Oh, Deer!

Looking out at my vegetable garden early this morning, I noticed that one tomato plant seemed to be missing its top.  Hmmm, what’s up with that, I thought to myself.   Standing a couple of feet tall, it was unlikely a woodchuck would be able to reach the top and woodchucks aren’t careful eaters – the whole tomato plant would be a stub!  No, this was something else, something I needed to investigate further.  I walked out into the humid July morning to find nearly all my daylily flower buds missing from the same garden.  I knew the culprit immediately – Deer!

Yes, folks, it’s a sad truth that deer love daylilies as much as we do.  They wait until the fat buds are just ready to burst into bloom and then delicately nip their way through each plant.  Does the phrase “nipped in the bud” come to mind?  I never had deer eat my tomato plants before but then my previous vegetable garden was enclosed by a six-foot fence.   That vegetable garden was sacrificed to a new septic system installation and the old fence went with it, but that’s another story.  This newer two-year old garden had escaped the deer until now but I knew it was only a matter of time because NOTHING will deter deer if you don’t have a fence.

Now this is not a new problem for me.  Over the years I’ve used all kinds of sprays and planted “deer-proof” flowers around my precious hostas and daylilies – the favored snacks of deer in this area.  But no plant is truly safe from these voracious creatures.  When deer are hungry enough, they will binge on just about anything.

Oddly enough, I’ve seen deer leave whole rows of tawny daylilies unscathed on one side of the road while the neighbor’s lilies across the street were completely stripped of buds!  Deer will also leave you a couple of buds on each plant just to show they’re not entirely without a conscience.  They’re mercurial and we never know for certain when they will strike or what they will eat.  The only thing we know for sure is that if there are deer in the area, we will not escape their munching for long.

For us baby boomers, deer can bring back memories of our beloved “Bambi,” the Disney film that was so popular in our childhoods.  It’s hard not to love deer after seeing that, to sympathize with their struggle for survival.  Indeed, it’s hard not to love all of God’s creatures; that is, until they decide to have our gardens for dinner.  Then, it becomes all out war!  But take it from one who has fought the long battle with deer – the victory is always there’s.  Guess it’s time to get that fence up!

shallow focus photo of brown reindeer
Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com

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2 Replies to “Oh, Deer!”

  1. Hi Nancy, I have had success keeping deer away from our daylilies and hostas with a “fishing line fence”. Put posts (I use the metal U-channels) at the corners, as well as in-between any long runs. Run 3 lengths of clear fishing line (I think I had 5 or 10 lb test) around the perimeter at approx. 1, 2, and 3 foot heights. (Spacing depends on what you are trying to protect). The deer don’t see the line, but they don’t like the “feel” of it when they brush against it. (Of course, if a deer happened to be running through the area, it would just tear through the line, but we’ve not had that happen). Even the bears that we have visit fairly regularly haven’t gone through it; maybe that’s just been luck!) Anyway, this is the first year I’ve tried it, and it’s been a success so far! It’s much less obtrusive than any other type of fence, since you only see the poles.
    Cheers, Bruce

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