How to keep the deer away

Edible and ornamental garden in the backyard

Sunday, March 11, 2023

I now live in the country where deer bed down in our front yard at night.  We bought our vacation house 12 years ago.  The first year we were here, the deer didn't seem to bother any of my newly planted ornamental plants.  The second summer, we came home one week end and all my hostas and daylilies had been eaten to the ground.  It was time to figure out how to keep them away!

I did lots of reading online for what keeps deer from eating ornamentals and edibles.  The biggest thing it seems you should know is that deer can't see very well, but have a great sense of smell that they use to navigate with.  They stay away from smelly things as it messes up their navigation.  Many talked about using a very fragrant soap like Irish Spring but that didn't seem to work long term.  I read somewhere that WD40 was abhorrent to the deer.  Fragrant herbs and marigolds acted as a deterrent, too.

What I have found that works well for me is a combination of fragrant herbs planted throughout the ornamental and edible garden with a perimeter of marigolds.  In addition, I use the Deer Off stakes and in between each of the stakes, I re-use last year's Deer Off stakes with old socks on them.  I wet the top of the socks with WD40 or with Bobbex, a stinky deer deterrent.  Either seems to work at keeping the deer at bay.  The Deer Off stakes I replace annually every spring, the socks I reapply every other month.  Make sure the deterrents are no more than 3 feet apart.

One thing to note is that the trick is to keep them from "discovering" all the great things for them to eat in your garden because once they have found it, they keep coming back.  If they are already eating your garden, they'll need to get distracted to forget about it so it may take a few weeks after you have put out the deterrents for them to get the deer out.  I think this may be why there is such variation in reviews on if something works or doesn't work.  If deer are hungry and are already eating on your plants, there is little you can do to get them to immediately stop.  So don't give up if deer have been eating your plants and the deterrents you just put up don't have an immediate effect.  They will over time.

This combination approach has worked for me for 10 years.  The only time deer start munching around the edges is when I don't reapply the deterrent on the socks or wait too long in the spring to put in new Deer Off stakes.