Have you ever sat on your patio or deck enjoying a nice, quiet evening when you’ve suddenly heard some noise from the back of the yard? You turn and look, only to find a deer or two rummaging through your veggie or flower garden. I have. I ran back to where they were and looked at what was left of my lettuce—not much!
I spent the rest of that spring and summer researching. I made a long list of plants deer do and don’t like and thought about options like putting up extra fencing. Did you know that they suggest fencing around EIGHT feet high; otherwise, the deer can hop right over it? I also looked into how to deter aphids, etc., from veggies. I wanted suggestions to keep everything but me away from my garden.
Certain veggies deer like more than others. They LOVE corn—tender leaves and sweet corn really appeal to them. One thing they are not crazy about is many strongly scented herbs! Considering that I LOVE herbs, I was happy to hear that! They will bother parsley occasionally but tend to avoid lavender, rosemary, sage, oregano, Bee Balm, fennel, basil, etc. They also don’t care for the spicy scented foliage of marigolds.
Well, perfect! Because some herbs are also offensive to insects, let’s get rid of two problems eating my veggies with one stone. Herbs like lavender, rosemary, lemon balm, oregano, sage, thyme and dill have strong scents that deer don’t like—and some insects don’t like them either. You can even plant some flowers like marigolds with their spicy scented foliage that help.
Now, there are also some strongly scented sprays that can help (look for organic things like garlic oil, etc.) but I kind of like the idea of growing my own. That way I can either use the herb itself culinarily or enjoy the fragrance (love lavender, etc.). Just remember to reapply about every week or two and especially after a summer rain.
You may also want to look into what they call “Companion Planting”—these are plants which benefit from being near each other or plants that can actually hinder the growth of another.
Or you can do what a friend of mine does. She feeds the deer in her backyard and grows what she doesn’t want them to bother in her front yard. All I can say is “Hey, it works for her.”