Doesn’t everyone feel a little thrilled by a deer sighting? Deer are beautiful creatures that evoke a sense of wonder and serenity when we see them, whether it’s on the big screen in an animated movie, or in real life when we lock eyes with them. But when deer are helping themselves to your garden, you feel anything but serene.
I live in a semi-rural area where deer sightings are not uncommon. And while they photograph well and look great on a social media post, there’s nothing more frustrating than finding a deer munching on tomatoes you’ve lovingly tended. I found out how to keep deer out of the garden for good—and you can, too.
Step 1: Touch Living Plants
Photo credit: Pixabay
While sometimes it seems like deer will eat anything you might want to grow in your garden, they’re actually pretty picky eaters. They choose foods based on texture, and naturally avoid certain textures in their diet. So to completely keep deer out of your garden, grow plants that deer absolutely don’t want to eat.
Go to a garden center where you can touch growing plants, and feel the textures of the leaves and stems. Deer don’t like food that isn’t smooth. Plants that have fuzzy or bristly surfaces are an instant turn-off, no matter how beautiful or tasty they may be. These are the prime plants you should be adding to your garden.
Deer don’t like anything that has a spiny texture, either. Plants with sharp, spiky leaves, and those that have thorns are naturally repulsive to deer. They also avoid plants with thick or leathery leaves. Grow these around the perimeter of your garden to create a natural barrier of stuff that deer won’t like, and this will act like a living fence to deter them.
Step 2: Go By Your Sense of Smell
Photo credit: Pexels
Like most animals, deer act on their senses. They are guided by their noses and react strongly to the ways plants smell. Deer naturally tend to shy away from any plants that have a very heavy scent, so you can fill your garden with aromatic herbs to naturally repel them. Herbs and flowers like sage, thyme, oregano, mint, marigolds, and lavender have rich, strong scents that will repel deer and send them off in another direction to find their next meal.
These plants are attractive in gardens, and luckily most people enjoy their scents as well. The aromatic herbs can actually be a very welcome addition to any garden, because you can use them to flavor meals, and to make your own teas that are very tasty and pleasant to drink. Lavender and marigolds add pops of beautiful color as well, so adding these deer-repelling plants is a great way to add variety and solve your deer problem at the same time.
Place these strongly-scented plants throughout your garden, and in particular, plant them close to areas where deer have caused trouble in the past. The strong scents will drive them away, even from the tender greens that they really do like to eat.
Step 3: Make Your Own Deer Repellent
Photo credit: Pixabay
There are many different types of chemical compounds on the market that can be used to deter deer from your garden, but these treatments must be applied frequently and liberally to be effective. They can also be expensive, which is why I and many other home gardeners don’t like to use them. Fortunately, you can easily make your own deer repellent with strong-smelling bars of soap. The soap doesn’t harm plants at all, and it has the added effect of driving away bugs and aphids, which are damaging to plants.
Get some very strongly scented bar soap and a knife, and carefully shave pieces of the soap directly onto the soil around the borders of your garden, as well as around the plants you most want to protect. The soap shavings only have to be reapplied to the garden once a month or so, depending on how much rain you get in your area, and it’s a very easy and affordable way to keep the deer away from your garden beds. You can use any strongly-scented soap, but avoid any that contain coconut oil. This will actually attract deer to your garden—the last thing you want to do.
The soapy scent that drives deer away won’t be very noticeable to humans, but something about the scent sends deer scattering the other direction. If you have pets, however, you’ll want to use caution and keep them away from the soap shavings. Pets may attempt to eat this interesting-smelling stuff, which might harm them.
Step 4: Plan Your Garden Wisely
Photo credit: Pixabay
Like people, deer are driven by an instinctual need to care for their children, particularly while the does are pregnant and nursing. This can make them particularly driven toward certain plants that people like best in their gardens. Deer enjoy eating lettuce, peas, and fruit plants just as much as people do, and they’re also highly attracted to hostas, pansies, and impatiens. If you’re going to grow these plants—which are like beacons to hungry deer—place them as close to your home as possible.
Deer naturally avoid people and are dissuaded by the lights, sounds, and smells that come out of people’s homes. This type of garden planning also gives you an added advantage: you can keep an eye on your flowers and vegetables, and chase deer away from them easily if you see them attempting to approach.
Step 5: Grow a Natural Barrier
Photo credit: Pixabay
If possible, grow a natural barrier of hedges or boxwoods around your garden areas. Fences that keep deer out of the garden are both unattractive and expensive, and may actually harm deer if you choose electric fences and so-called “invisible” designs. Hedges and boxwoods are attractive, and they block your garden areas from your neighbors’ view. Deer use their eyes first to determine where they want to eat. If they can’t see all the tasty treats inside your yard, they’re much more likely to simply move on and look elsewhere for a snack.
Step 6: Add Moving Decorations
Photo credit: Pixabay
Being prey animals, deer are skittish creatures by nature—something you’ll notice any time you catch sight of one. They tend to leap away at strange noises and unfamiliar movements. Make your garden look dangerous and terrifying by adding some moving parts to it, and deer will be more likely to run away than to step up and start nibbling.
Wind chimes and mobiles that move in the wind are highly effective deer repellents, and you don’t have to do anything but place these items in the garden where they’re in plain sight. Ribbons and pinwheels that move and spin in the wind work to keep deer away as well.
Look for anything that will move, and you’ll have something that will keep deer on their guard, and away from your plants.
Step 7: Get a Dog
Photo credit: Pixabay
If you think deer are afraid of you, just wait and see how they react around canines. A dog of any size is a terrifying prospect to any unwanted herbivore visitor. These pets make a lot of noise and create scents that immediately frighten deer when they catch a whiff of them.
Get a dog, and take them out into the yard frequently. They will mark their territory and leave their scent around their property instinctively. Deer will smell the dog’s markings and stay far away from your yard, for fear that this loud, energetic creature will show up and chase them away.
Step 8: Light it Up
Photo credit: Pixabay
Deer are not fond of bright lights. Creatures of woodland environments, deer love dark and shadowy places— particularly when they’re looking for something to eat. Aim some motion-activated lights at your garden spaces to keep these away, and remember: the brighter the better. Actually, adding more light to your property is never a bad idea, because a flood of bright light will also scare away human trespassers.
These bright lights will flash on when deer approach, instantly driving them away when they try to sneak into the garden at night to eat your plants.
Keeping Deer Away
Did you learn some useful deer-deterring tips in this how-to guide? After trying many costly chemical solutions and deer-proofing products available in home and garden stores, I turned to more DIY solutions like these and found them to be extremely effective for keeping deer away from my vegetables and flowers.
Knowing what deer like and don’t like can be a huge help when you’re trying to come up with a plan to keep them away from your yard, while avoiding complete destruction of your garden aesthetics while doing so.
See if these same solutions work for you, and hopefully you can start enjoying your garden more—while making the deer hate your space more than they ever expected!
