Being someone who enjoys gardening and lives nearby the forest, caring for a garden can be a bit troublesome. With your ripened fruits and delicious plants, you will find yourself a loyal visitor. Deers are adorable, and their presence might excite you at first. However, when these four-legged critters decide to take a long walk in your lovely garden while helping themselves with your labored earnings, they become an annoyance.
While deers are docile beings, a hungry deer can damage your hard work in a blink of an eye. Which is why it is essential to find some tried and trusted ways to keep deer out of your garden. Here are 8 trusted tricks to keep your roses and fruits safe from deer’s sight.
8 Trusted Ways to Keep Deer Out Of Garden
1. Fence it up
Among several effective options, building a fence is the most efficient one. Setting up a tall and solid fence should keep the deer out of your garden. However, another setback is their ability to jump high. If you have come across an ambitious deer, you might want to take the following advice into your consideration to deter them.
- Make sure that your fence is about 12 feet tall. Most deer can jump up to seven inches.
- The fence should not have low points or spaces or gaps from below.
- If you choose a solid wall, it will deter deer from jumping as deer shy away from jumping into unknown territory. No need for a 12 feet fence if using a concrete wall.
Effective Fence Types To Keep Deer Away From Your Garden
Solid Fence
A solid fence works better than any other style as it is not see-through. This trick alone should be able to keep the deer away, but if not, don’t worry; we have more ways to outsmart them. Deer don’t like to jump the fence without knowing what’s on the other side, which is why solid fences don’t need to be built so tall.
Unstable Rocky Beds
Creating a wide rocky bed is another clever way to deter deer. Hooved animals like deer don’t prefer walking on an unstable path. If you want a non-fence fence, this is an excellent option. The rocky bed should be wide enough to prevent unwanted jumping.
Triple Fence Layering
Deers can outsmart you by jumping over a single fence, but it is not possible for them to jump over three. You can pick up a length of three to five feet of a single fence. Double it up and add cost-effective wiring. Deer will definitely fall for this technique as they don’t like trapped spaces.
Electric Fence
Electric fencing is also another great measure, but it is not considered humane. It is not exactly practical and can cause serious hazards. Although, if worked with proper instructions, it can surely keep deers away from your flowers and vegetables.
2. Use Plants That Repel Deers
A long-lasting solution would be to create an anti-deer garden. Play smart by choosing foliage, grasses, and fruits that are a complete turn-off for deers. There are certain characteristics that should be considered when making plant selection.
Textured and Spiked Vegetation
Introduce plants with hairs on their base and leaves. Deer don’t prefer eating plants with fuzzy textures. Flowering tobacco, heliotrope, tuberous begonias, lady’s mantle, purple-top vervain, and brunnera are a few choices from the many options that would fit right into your blooming garden.
You can also decorate some spiky plants as these are not much liked by the deer. Although deers will pretty much try to eat these, too, among other plants, these have fewer chances of destruction. Globe thistles, sea hollies, cardoons, and bear breeches are some examples of prickly plants.
Strong Scented Foliage
Vegetation with foul scents is a big no for deers. The smell is a significant factor of attraction, a psychological trait that can be used against them. Similar to us, deer smell the food first; the foul odor and heavy scents distract them from feeding automatically, setting them off their target.
Lavender and Marigold are pretty aromatic and can interfere with deer’s ability to distinguish their predators. Gardeners explain that to deers, marigold is an extremely disgusting plant. Other herbs include oregano, thyme, and sage. Calamintha, Caryopteris, Lamium, Pycnanthemum, Monarda, Tanacetum, Salvias, Perovskia, Agastache, and Nepeta are also great choices to have in your garden.
Poisonous and Roughage Foliage
Even after changing different strategies and the problem doesn’t fix, poisonous foliage is your last resort. There are certain plants that are toxic to deers. Although, usage of such foliage is inhumane and, therefore, should be kept as a last resort.
Such toxic plants include poppies, spurges, daffodils, bleeding hearts, and monkshood. Other than these, there are certain fibrous plants that cause severe gastric issues and are despised by the deers. These roughage include arrowwood, peonies, pachysandra, Colocasia, Alocasia, and dragon wing begonias.
3. Fool Them Up With An Invisible Fence
If you think setting up a fence would compromise the beauty of your garden, try invisible fencing. You might wonder what exactly invisible fencing is. Well, given its name, it is a fence, but you will not feel its presence. This type of fence can be easily created with a fish line.
- All you need is four to five rounds of fishing line, depending on the area you want to cover.
- Make five rows with less than a foot distance.
The blended lining will confuse the deer and prevent it from jumping.
4. Get Creative With Noise
High-pitched voices and loud music are viable tricks to scare your unwanted visitor. Deers are more afraid of humans than they fear other animals. Play recorded audio of a loud conversation between humans. You can also play loud metallic music. That will definitely scare them. Wind chimes are also an effective noise element, but that is a temporary solution. Ultrasonic noise devices are also available that have shown satisfactory results in deterring deers.
5. Shuffle Your Ornaments
Garden ornaments such as scarecrows and flashy aluminum CDs work well in spooking deers. There are several ways to make your scarecrow catchy and scary. Design it with pillowcases and stuffings like cotton and other fabrics. Advance it by attaching a sound box with a loud noise. Switch it around the garden to intimidate the trespassers. Other than scarecrows, any movable, noisy, and flashy ornament would equally work well.
6. An Unpleasant Trip With Odorous Repellents
Deers have a powerful nose, and you can use that for your benefit. There are certain smells that are uncomfortable and disruptive for a deer. Experiment with the following scents, and hopefully, you will find your winner.
Putrefied Egg
It is the stinkiest repellent which doesn’t need any more description. You can imagine its smell just by its name. This will show the guaranteed result as deer’s sense of smell is quite strong, and this foul smell won’t be bearable for them.
Peppermint
Mint has numerous benefits, but the primary benefit is its highly concentrated aroma. You can also use essential oils along with plants. This will not only keep deer away but will create a fresh and lively environment.
Garlic
Garlic plant is an excellent repellent that should be kept nearby your fruits and vegetables. Due to its astringent smell, it is quite proficient in keeping deers away.
How To Use These Scents To Keep Deer Out Of Your Garden
The best way to use these scents is by combining two to three herbs. Set them at a distance outside your garden. This will give additional security to your plants, and they will run away from the entrance after having a distasteful encounter with the herbs.
7. Take Help From Your Furry Cop
For once in your life, pets can be a significant help in shooing away deers from your garden. Dogs are natural deer repellent with their loud barks and rapid movements. Set up a dog house for your dog’s convenience. It’s more likely to scare a deer if it constantly sees a dog lurking inside the garden.
8. Scare Them With Their Fear
It is not difficult to scare a deer, but it is to keep them scared for a longer period. Deers are especially scared of weird garden ornaments like scarecrows. Besides, any new and unknown change will frighten them temporarily. It is advised to change decorations from time to time and add variations. Sprinklers are another tactic that works wonderfully in scaring deers. These are activated by movement and release a rapid burst of water.
Bottom Line
Deers are exotic, but they can make you hate them by destroying your blooming garden. Nurturing a garden is not easy, so getting frustrated at these four-legged critters is justified. However, there are several organic ways through which you can successfully keep deers away from your garden without hurting them. All you need to do is make close observations after each destruction. Know their likes, dislikes, and weaknesses. The key is to mix two or more of the solutions, as mentioned earlier, to see results. As deer are intelligent and they pick on fast, so variation is vital. Hopefully, you will find peace with the deers. Happy Gardening!
