Keep deer out of your garden
How to Keep Deer Out of the Garden Cheaply & Safely
By eHow Contributor , last updated August 01, 2012 (http://www.ehow.com/how_2218060_deer-out-of-garden-cheap.html)
Deer take advantage of tasty foraging options, whether in a field or your garden. The delicious greenery and vegetables you nurture in your home garden are just as tempting to deer as they are to you. Rather than allowing your garden to become demolished by hungry deer, you can instead opt to take a defensive tactic against them.
Certain methods of keeping deer away are harmful to their health, but building a fence with fishing line is both economical and safe for the deer.
Instructions
- Place a wooden tomato stake at each corner of your garden. You may want to add a stake in the middle if you have a large garden. Keep the stake 5 to 10 feet away from plants. You may adjust stakes later if deer are still able to reach over the top and access your plants.
- Run fishing line around the entire garden. Use two or three strands. The top should be at a level to catch the deer’s neck or shoulder and the lower strand low enough to catch the deer above its knees. Since deer cannot see the fishing line, they will not try to go over it or go under it. They simply will not put enough pressure on the fishing line to break it.
- Place two stakes about 3 to 4 feet apart and use this as a door so you can go in and out of the garden with a tiller. Run the fishing line across this section as well when you aren’t using it as an open door.
An All-in-One Homemade Deer Repellent
Mix the following in a 1-gallon tank sprayer:
- 2 – beaten and strained eggs— strain them to remove the white strings surrounding the yolk, which otherwise will plug up your sprayer).
- 1 – cup milk, yogurt, buttermilk, or sour milk
- 2 tsp. – Tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper
- 20 drops – essential oil of clove, cinnamon, or eucalyptus, found in small bottles at health food stores
- 1 tsp. – cooking oil or dormant oil
- 1 tsp. – liquid dish soap
Top off the tank with water and pump it up. Shake the sprayer occasionally and mist onto dry foliage. One application will last for 2 to 4 weeks in dry weather.