Gardener: Defending your garden when deer are near
I thought I was bulletproof. In my four decades as a gardener, I've never had a personal encounter with even a single deer in my yard. Although I am well aware of their abundance in every corner of the continent, secretly I always felt insulated in my in-town, densely populated semi-urban neighborhoods.
That is, until one recent weekend.
As I stood alongside my month-old vegetable garden, admiring its progress and taping commentary for an online video series, something caught my eye. As I looked up, I saw it. A large deer was leisurely strolling across my back yard. Once I overcame the shock of this unexpected sighting, I composed myself and aimed my video camera toward this uninvited guest to document the intrusion.
When I shared my encounter with my neighbor, she was shocked. In her 50 years of living next door, she has never seen anything larger than a raccoon in our neighborhood. But it really shouldn't come as that much of a surprise when you consider the facts. Deer are more of a problem than ever. Urban sprawl and encroachment on deer habitats and feeding sites has made them less fearful of human presence, as now they often look to our gardens as their primary -- and sometimes only -- food source.
There are three primary ways commonly used to repel or deter deer: physical barriers, scare tactics and repellents. Although all methods can provide at least limited success, anything short of complete physical exclusion will eventually fall short of total protection.
Physical barriers
Unfortunately, the physical size of the garden or property can preclude this option entirely. Then there is the challenge of creating a barrier that is tall enough. Deer can clear a fence or other object that is 10 feet tall -- or more. But if it's any consolation, they will not jump over an item if they cannot see their landing zone, nor will they jump over wide objects, such as a wide hedge or a fence that has a row of wires angling outward. This can make building or planting a deer-resistant physical barrier a bit more manageable, and one that is less of an eyesore.
Scare tactics
On a more controllable level, this leaves us with two options. The first: scare tactics. There are many commercial products and home remedies that can be effective --temporarily. Unfortunately, once the deer become accustomed to the scare device, they'll resume their normal feeding habits undeterred.
Repellents
Recent comments
. . . the guy that had both a vegetable and a flower garden, during...
Speaking as | July 9, 2009 at 10:35 a.m.
- Cougars beat Utes in overtime 1:11 a.m.
- UVU beats SUU; USU wins big 12:57 a.m.
- BYU spikers end season with a loss 12:55 a.m.
- Iverson may be headed to 76ers 12:34 a.m.
- Credit Coug defense for win 12:33 a.m.
- Aggies blow away T-birds 12:32 a.m.
- Mo steals show in Cavaliers' victory 12:31 a.m.
- Editorial: Facilitate Big Brother? 12:22 a.m.
- Mom befriends wife of PTSD vet 12:21 a.m.
- Political clash over U.S. debt 12:21 a.m.
- Cave to be sealed with body inside
- Predicting the unpredictable: BYU wins
- Vegas, Poinsettia bowls or bust
- Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
- BYU football: 5 keys to victory
- Glover gives Utes last-second upset
- Cougars turn back Wildcats'
- Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
- Running game key to BYU offense
- Woods, wife unavailable for interview
- Cougars beat Utes in overtime
396 - Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
150 - Thunder rolls by Jazz
136 - Cave to be sealed with body inside
115 - Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
115 - Editorial: Poor welcome for Palin
113 - Rivalry Week is highly profane
88 - Hall's legacy measured today
75 - Y. focused on 10-win season
73 - Letters: C02 causes warming
70
I wanted to tell them not to go. I dropped subtle hints. "My money is on...
watch out for next year for sure, the negatives are just closet (and...
And something else, I generally follow players from the state schools when...
I could care less that Max Hall said what he did. The feeling is mutual BYU...
Dear Max, probably could have done without that comment. Probably would've...
As a Utah fan, let me first say congratulations to Max Hall, the Cougars, and...
Geno's and Pat's are good.. but, they are mostly for tourists, the real...
(You even got a middle initial... how's that for 'ya Max) It's nice to see...
Even today, I still cannot get enough of this movie or Charles Gitonga Maina....
...disappointed with Max Hall's comments that he hates everything about UofU....
Over the last few days I read comments of people complaining about tasteless...



