How to Protect Your Garden From Deer

They're cute, they're furry and they're graceful, and they'll wreak havoc on your garden. Don't shoot! Here are some ways to keep deer from eating your plants.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Deer Repellents
• Electric Fences
• Mesh Fencing
• Deodorant Soaps

1. Landscape with plants that deer don't like to eat. Contact a local nursery to discover which local plants are less appealing to deer.

2. Surround your property with fencing that is at least 8 feet high - higher on a slope so the deer won't be able to leap over.

3. Create a barrier by erecting parallel 4-foot-high fences, 5 feet apart. Deer won't attempt to jump the shorter fences if they see another obstacle. Use only wire mesh or solid fencing. While those types of fences may be less attractive, deer can miraculously squeeze through just about any spaces between slats or gaps in wood fencing. (Mesh now comes in a variety of colors and can blend in better with your surroundings.)

4. Install electric fencing around the perimeter of your garden. This will definitely do the trick, but it will also zap unintended animals and children, so use it as a last resort and away from trails and houses.

5. Fence in or enclose specific trees or beds with mesh or screen. The barriers should be tall enough (up to 6 feet high) for the deer not to eat over and at least 2 feet from the foliage so the deer cannot graze through fences.

6. Spray your garden with deer repellents. Unfortunately, the ingredients that work best are ground chicken feathers and sewage, and the smell may keep more than just the deer away.

7. Hang bars of deodorant soap from trees throughout the garden. Add enough of the pungent bars so no tempting leaves are more than 3 feet from a bar. Deer are skittish about any unfamiliar smell, so change the bars to new brands regularly.

8. Get a dog. Deer are cautious animals and won't enter a yard with a lurking canine.

Tips & Warnings

• Deer are creatures of habit and often return regularly to easy targets. These steps make your yard less attractive to them and will send the deer off to more available food sources.

• Late in the summer when wild vegetation becomes scarce and dried out, or in winter when food is less available, the deer get hungry and it becomes more difficult to keep them away.