How to keep those pesky deer out of your garden?

We’ve all been there. You work hard all spring, watch the seeds sprout, flower and bloom and then one morning you wake up to check on everything and suddenly you notice IT’S GONE!

The deer came and ate all of your hard work while your back was turned. Ugh!!! Don’t give up, here are some tips on how to keep deer out of your garden.

The struggle is real. You did all the labor, planning, planting, watering, fertilizing, and watching it grow- patiently. Then the darn deer eat everything. I mean everything. What can you do?

Here are some suggestions and tips from farmers and gardeners to help keep deer, and other pests, out of your garden that worked for them.

Fences To Keep Deer Out Of Your Garden

You know the old saying that fences make good neighbors? Well, they also make good gardens.

• Place a fence around your garden at least four-foot-high.
• If you have the ability, install an electric fence.
• The double-layered fence works the best.
  Set up one wire fence around your garden and another one about two-three feet around the first fence. If the first wire fence doesn’t stop them, the second surely will.
• Our friend, Homestead Lady, shares instructions for a DIY Wattle Fence you can build for cheap.

Fill the Freezer

No joke. If it’s deer season, and you have a tag, venison meat is amazing. Fill your freezer by hunting for deer, and save your garden vegetables for a side dish.

One of my favorite wild game food blogs is Hank Shaw from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook. Check out his venison recipes.

Visual Distraction To Keep Deer Out Of Your Garden

Use fishing line to ‘fence’ in the perimeter of your garden and tie plastic grocery bags to it, hang aluminum pie pans and old music cd’s.

Make sure they can move around in the wind. The sight and sound often scare deer away to go look for a meal elsewhere.

Music Soothes The Savage Beast

Provided you don’t have neighbors that live close by, use a radio by your garden to keep the deer out.

Get a cheap radio from a thrift store or yard sale, tune in to a sport or news channel where they mainly talk and turn that baby up.

Use an Old-Fashioned Scarecrow 

Sometimes the old way is still the best way. Gather some old clothes and have fun making an old-fashioned scarecrow.

Scarecrow tips

• Use clothes that are dirty, not clean. The more they smell like humans, the better.
• Add human hair to the stuffing
• Pee around the base of the scarecrow

Tell The Boys To Pee Outside To Keep Deer Away

All these years I’ve told the boys NOT to pee outside (we had really close neighbors), now I’m telling them to pee around my garden. Human urine or predator urine, such as coyote, can deter deer from your garden area.

In addition to using human urine to deter deer, it also makes a great plant fertilizer if you dilute it to ten parts water, one part urine. Of course, I wouldn’t use this on edible plants.

Get a Haircut 

One of my first professions out of high school was a hairdresser. I had gardeners come to get hair clippings all the time from me to use around their gardens.

If you don’t know a barber or hairdresser and you’re not in need of a trim, check the local thrift store for human wigs.
To use the hair, just spread it around the outside of your garden.

If You Can’t Beat Em’- Feed Em’

Are deer eating your garden? Try filling their bellies with something they enjoy more than your vegetables.

Add a couple of deer feeders away from your garden and keep them full. You may be surprised to find they leave your garden alone and you enjoy their company.

Use Dogs To Keep Deer and Pests Out Of Your Garden

Dogs are natural protectors of the homestead. Move Fido’s dog house close to the garden and you won’t lose another plant to pesky animals.

Do you have other critter and pest problems?

If so, you can make our DIY Critter Ridder recipe to stop critters from eating your house and garden with our recipe.

Do your cats or your neighbors cats poop in your garden? Follow our tips on how to keep cats out of your garden.

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