The live and let live strategy used with the deer in the past has failed miserably in my garden this year. Having talked to friends and done extensive internet research a two prong strategy has been developed. An eight foot fence with bird netting will be put at the perimeter of the garden. A deer can jump this flat footed; so hopes are not high. The 2nd approach will be to fill little cloth bags with human hair.
A friend of mine is a beautician and he has volunteered to supply the hair. Rags could be sewn together for the bags; but being lazy, I have decided to staple them. They will be scattered throughout the garden on poles. Last year I tried hanging some smelly work clothes in the garden. The smell of them horrified my wife; but did not seem to bother the deer. I hope the hair will do better.
A possible third strategy for some of the raised beds will be to make a frame for a polyethylene tunnel that will extend the growing season and cover it with bird netting in the warm season. This should work for small plants. It won’t help as the plants grow. I also intend to plant some very attractive deer food outside of the garden. Maybe corn and soybeans will work. The deer have to eat too.
An interesting development for this late in the year has occurred. The deer ate even the hot pepper plants. They left the peppers which I picked on Friday. I intended to pull the plants on Sunday and put them in the compost pile. On Sunday they had some new foliage and blossoms. I decided to leave them. I cannot imagine getting new peppers this late in the season; but hope is free.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com/ , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
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