Many gardeners know the challenge of keeping deer away from their garden. Deer love fruits and vegetables just as much as you do and they also love to eat flowers.
Here are some of the best and safest ways to keep deer from ruining your garden without using chemicals.
1. Make a DIY invisible fence
An obvious way to keep deer out of your garden is to have a fence. Unfortunately, many deer can hop over fences. You can make an invisible fence with just a few items to keep deer out easily. Use a few rows of clear fishing wire to make your fence. Stake the perimeter of your garden with pieces of wood about 5 feet high. Then start about 2-3 inches from the ground with a row of your fishing line. Repeat three more times, placing the rows of wire about a foot apart. The deer won’t be able to see the fishing line so they won’t attempt to jump over them and they can’t get into your garden either.
2. Plant lavender or marigolds
Deer don’t like the smell of lavender or marigolds and will likely stay away. Deer don’t want to start smelling like something else because it can make it hard to sense predators. Try planting these flowers around the perimeter of your garden and planting a few in pots around your yard to deter deer from coming in.
3. Make noise and scare them away
Try stringing up old CDs, pie tins or aluminum cans around your yard to create a visual and sound effect that will startle and scare the deer away. You can also set a radio out near your garden because they won’t like the noise. By creating unexpected sights and sounds, you cause the deers’ main defense against prey to go up.
4. Put soap in your garden
It sounds funny, but putting soap in your garden will deter the deer from munching on your plants. Put a bar of soap on a wooden skewer and put it in the ground near the plants. You can also shave the soap around seedlings. It lasts about a month and disintegrates when it rains. It won’t hurt your plants but it will keep the deer away. Just don’t use coconut oil soap, because it may actually attract them.
5. Spray something stinky in your garden
Try this stinky spray recipe: In a gallon jug, mix one cup of milk, one egg and one tablespoon of dish soap. Fill the rest with water. Keep it in the sun to get it really smelly. Spray it at night so you don’t smell it yourself for very long. It isn’t harmful at all to the plants, but it will keep the critters away because they don’t like the smell either.
Do you have a garden? Do you have a deer problem? Share this article with a friend who has a green thumb!
[H/T: GoodHousekeeping]