Gardening And Landscaping With Deer....

Growing plants around deer is a challenge and in many cases a deer fence, hoop house, green house or balcony is your only choice. If you are like many folks though, that is only a small fraction of your total yard or land so what do you grow in the unprotected parts?

Make no mistake it is a challenge but by using the power of observation and a little bit of know how you can get plants to grow where the deer do roam. Deer like the soft plants or the soft part of plants for the most part. They will nip a piece off most any plant during certain times of year but that often helps the plant grow more bushy. We like to think of them as professional pruners. While they rarely will eat the whole plant to the stem or to the ground, unless the plant is small, it does happen, particularly if the plant is new to their area or one of their favorites. During certain times of year when there is less to eat they will eat more of what tends to soft and easy to get to. Even still, they tend to avoid rosemary, lavender, sage and oregano although they will take nips off of them from time to time if they have never tried them.

"Many people do not want deer in their yard be we love having them, they are well worth the challenge of figuring out what and how to plant with deer in mind..."

The deer we have observed tend to eat first what is within their normal route and within their normal reach. If they spend more time within the area they will reach a little further and go somewhat off their route. As a rule of thumb, plant what you don't mind them eating on their route and stuff you do mind further away. It might be smart to keep them happily nibbling on their route if can so grow what they like there. We have found that planting just out of their normal first reach can help. Plants grown in the second row do better than the plants in the front row, for example, particularly if they are shorter. We wanted to test growing a sunflower so we planted a 6" sunflower within 18" high daisies and they have not touched it yet. Deer generally prefer to remain silent so they will often steer clear of walking on sticks that will snap or other noisy surfaces as their first choice. Sometimes deer will eat a lot of something once then never eat it again like mint or catnip. We have observed that many types of plants do not stand much of a chance before they are about 6" high and thus they might need to be protected until then. A water based spray of hot Cheyenne pepper can deter them for a while. Some people add egg to make the pepper stay on the plants longer but we have not tried this. Some times a few sticks poking out of the ground near a small plant will keep the plant from getting stepped on.

Here is some of what we have seen:
Things they leave alone:
Lavender, rosemary, daisies, foxglove, ground covers such as woolly thyme, baby tears, thymus minus, ajuga, blue star creeper, mosses; poppies, rhubarb (we have heard).

Things they may occasionally nibble, but not enough to worry too much:
Catnip, oregano, thyme, marjoram, mint.

Things you will want to protect if you want to see flower or fruit:
Roses, lilies, young fruit trees, garden vegetables, salad greens.

We have deer eating within our landscaping most every day or many times a day. Yet the herbs like mint, catnip, savory, are all doing just fine. They allow some flowering plants like daisies, rhododendron, lamb's ear, and foxglove to grow. They tend to leave some kinds of thyme alone like the creeping kinds and eat others. They have not eaten the mosses or baby tears or other small plants much if at all. They do eat small amounts of Woodruff but not enough to cause damage if you have very much of it. You will want to protect most fruit trees with in reach and many types of garden vegetables. It takes time and patience to learn what they will eat to the ground and what they will prune or pretty much leave alone. This is their home, and like most any creature, they need to eat.

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