Deer proofing your garden

By Melanie Mathieson
Gardening Guru

Deer are becoming very abundant throughout the rural area of the Rainy River district and are also frequent visitors to many gardens right within the town of Fort Frances and a garden full of perennials or vegetables can become a gourmet delight for any deer. Deer are creatures of habit and therefore will return to the same places for food over and over. Most often the damage is done in the early light of day or the evening hours and you are not aware that you have a deer problem until it is too late.
You can create natural barriers of “deer offensive” plants around your already established perennial beds or each year when you plant your vegetable garden. As a general rule of thumb, deer do not like most herb species and the more aromatic they are the more offensive they are to deer. Herbs like rosemary, sage, mints, chives and especially garlic and onions are extremely displeasing to deer. Not only are most of these herbs effective against deer but other pests and insects as well, so make these plants your border plantings around your garden and you will establish a natural “pest fence” that is also very useful to you as well.
As drought tolerant perennials and annuals plants tend to have tough and fibrous stems and leaves, they tend to be passed over by deer. Often these plants have silvery or whitish hue to the foliage like silver mound, ornamental grasses, lamb’s ear, salvia. Consult a plant guide for other suggestions. Drought tolerant plants are low maintenance, can solve a low moisture problem and combat deer at the same time.
Deer also do not like annuals and perennials with flowers that have an unpleasant odour. Zinnias and marigolds come to mind immediately, as well as other plants with coarse fuzzy, bristly or spiny textures, like black-eyed Susans, perennial phlox and poppies.
Deer love spring bulbs like tulips but did you know daffodils are poisonous to deer? Rhubarb is also poisonous. Deer will eat the flowers off of roses but they will not walk though the bushes to gain access to other parts of the garden. So with substitutions or using thorny or spiny bushes as natural fencing you can create some great deer barriers. Raspberry bushes can be a great natural fencing all around your yard or vegetable garden.
Deer are easily spooked by humans and dogs. They have a keen senses and sudden movements will send them scurrying. Human scent is a great deterrent but you must be consistent about keeping it fresh after a rain. Many gardeners swear by hanging bars of heavily scented soap in netting or nylons around their yard to keep deer at bay. Soap must be replaced once it dissolves from the rain. Keep the wrappers on and you will get extra mileage out of the bars. Hanging bags of human hair or dog hair can also work the same way but do not last as long as soap and must be replaced frequently after heavy rains. You will want to hang these bags of scent at least three feet off of the ground so they are in the deer’s line of scent.
There are many deer repellents available on the market that can be effective but must be reapplied after the rain. I will be testing “Bobbex” this year which is a smelly mixture of natural ingredients known to repel deer. Most other repellents have terrible orders like rotten eggs or animal urine. My garden I featured on the Thunder Bay garden tour this year so I have to try everything I can to protect the plants. There are many recipes for natural non-commercial repellents on the internet.
Bone and blood meal is made from ground bones and blood from slaughter houses and is marketed as a plant fertilizer. Blood meal smells like rotten meat and will deter most garden pests including deer. Sprinkle on top of the soil of your garden, replacing after each rain, and you will be deterring deer and adding nutrients at the same time. Remember that the foul smell may attract dogs, raccoons and bears so this may not work in your situation. Another inexpensive and effective deterrent for deer is fabric softener sheets. These can be hung like the bags of soap throughout the garden. They are lightweight and inexpensive but also must be replaced as their scent wears away.
Some people also swear by hanging “white tails” in their garden. White tails can be made by ripping white rags into tail like shapes and hanging from trees, shrubs or stakes, at a height of about three feet. When the wind catches these, the deer perceive these as real white tails signaling danger and flee. Also others have used foil pie plates or old CD’s. I have bough holographic reflective tape to hang in the trees this year.
There are many electronic or motioned sensored gizmos on the market for deterring garden pests. While these can be expensive some are very effective. Before making a large financial investment try a good old fashioned scarecrow first. Two secrets to success, make sure parts of the scarecrow body moves in the wind and move the scarecrow around your garden occasionally, as deer will get used to it if it is in the same position all the time. Some gardeners use noise makers as scarecrows. I have heard they are effective for a while but then the deer will get used to the sounds and become comfortable being in the presence of the sound. If you want to try music or the radio you might want to make sure you have plenty of variety to change the tone so the deer do not get used to the same music.
Fences can be effective or ineffective depending on your situation. If you are investing in a fence make sure it is high enough, does not have any holes deer can squeeze through like near the gate and is sunk into the ground. Deer have been known to crawl under a fence, clear a seven foot jump and even squeezed though a 12 inch opening in a fence. While a fence is a large financial investment some gardeners have found that it is the only solution.
I encourage you to try some or all of the suggestions to deter deer from your yard but remember the populations are growing and they are hungry so the best tips may still prove to be somewhat ineffective. Remember persistence is the key and maintaining your deterrents will signal to the deer to move on to some place that is less of a challenge.