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