Deer can destroy a small vegetable patch in minutes by consuming just about every plant there.
If you are having a deer problem in your garden, here are some things you can try to get those pesky creatures to stay out of your vegetable garden.
Plant Vegetables Deer Hate
Plant onions, garlic, asparagus, rhubarb, or summer squash around plants that you would like to protect from deer. Deer can not stand the smell of these plants and will avoid them.
The great thing about this solution is that you may be already planning on planting some or all of these plants any way; you'll be killing two birds with one stone, as they say.
Plant Deer Resistance Flowers
Incorporate deer resistant flowers in and around the vegetable garden. If you have space you can also plant certain flowers that deer hate.
Plant deer resistant flowers around your vegetable garden as a border. You can also plant them within your vegetable garden to protect certain plants.
Some of the best plants to deter deer are:
Agastache
Annual Vinca
Butterfly Bush
Salvia
Use Deer Repellents
Commercial deer repellent will work to keep away the deer, and most are safe to use around edibles.
Make sure the repellent you choose is deemed safe to use in vegetable gardens.
Use a Deer Fence
Put up a Deer Fence. This option can get quite expensive if you have a large garden space.
The fence needs to be at least 8 feet in height, because deer are really good jumpers.
Use Motion Activated Sprinklers
Install motion activated sprinklers. Installing motion activated sprinkler around your vegetable garden is a great way to scare off all kinds of unwanted animals from the garden, including birds, raccoons, and deer.
This is also an option that can get expensive if you need several sprinklers, but should last for many years.
Make a Noise Maker
Put up a pie pan noise-maker. This is a very simple, yet effective solution to keep deer from chewing on your favorite vegetable plants.
Just take two or three aluminum pie pans, drill or punch a hole in the outer part of the pie pan, and then tie the pie pans together with garden twine.
Hang the pie pans from a Shepard's hook, fence post, or any other structure in or near the garden. When the winds blows the pie pans the pans will bang and clang against one another.
The sudden noise will frighten the deer off. Having a calm day with no breeze is the only down-side to this contraption.
Get a Dog
A superb deer deterrent is a dog. A dog will serve as a noise maker, a moving object, and the deer will consider it a threat. A dog that has good size and only barks when necessary is the most effective towards keeping deer at bay.
Small dogs that bark incessantly are less likely to be effective, because the deer could get used to the noise and ignore it eventually.
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