Deer management (welcome bowhunters!)

We are now taking up arms against the deer. We were hopeful that the deer could be deterred by the improved fence, which now stands at the height of nine feet. Apparently not. This morning I surveyed the new damage with depression and disdain. Over the last two weeks we have regularly shot the deer with our BB gun, but those smug varmints run twenty feet then turn and look as if to say, "That's all you got?" So arriving today in the mail is a slingshot with 3/8" steel ball bearings. The range won't be as long, but with us regularly catching the deer either in the garden or just on the other side of the fence, range isn't the problem. The deer are so accustomed to people that I have been wildly screaming and waving my arms trying to shoo them away and have gotten as close as ten feet before they mosey away. Hopefully getting whacked in the head with a steel ball will hurt enough to change their territory.

But, I've also been researching deer management programs that come to your property to eradicate the deer population. I emailed the Suffolk Archers and Bowhunters Club, located on Long Island, that advertises their Land Owners Assistance Program. We are a bit of a distance from LI, but they are still willing to research our property and at the very least, send up some hunters in October for deer season. In the meantime, I will be actively pursuing a nuisance permit that allows eradication throughout the year, though the state is apparently pretty stingy on granting these to regular landowner as opposed to commercial farms. Maybe I can start selling homegrown veggies in our local delis and farmer's markets!

Either way, the deers' days are numbered.

Deer or Cavan??

My garden has another predator in addition to the deer—Cavan!

Today I went to the nursery to buy violas to fill in the border with my recently-eaten lilies. While I was planting them, Cavan was playing in the yard in my peripheral vision, but I wasn't monitoring her every move. As I was finishing up, Cavan comes up to me and says, "Here Mommy, I picked these pretty flowers for you," and she hands me a bouquet of the stems and flower buds of my Cupid's Dart plants, which were due to bloom next week.


AHHHHH!


Needless to say, the absolutely cute innocence of her actions prevented me from getting (too) angry, but I did have to explain to her, sternly, that she can't pick flowers unless she asks mommy first.


But I will always treasure those Cupid Dart plants, remembering how the first year they were supposed to bloom, I didn't see flowers, but rather an extra-special bouquet of buds!

Funeral lilies

This is a mournful week, marred by the tragic and untimely murders of beautiful members of my garden family--my oriental lilies. They are not the only victims of the ruthless vandals that decimated my property, but they are my favorites and are gone baby gone.

My stargazer lilies. What they looked like last year.
I won't get to enjoy them for another 13 months.

We have a six-foot deer fence surrounding our entire yard and garden. Last year, this fence worked like a charm, and despite the herd of deer that live in the woods behind and adjacent to our property, not one of them ever attempted to scale the obstacle. This year, we expanded the fencing to enclose a larger section of our property, including some of the wooded area that we are thinning out and preparing to landscape. Apparently the deer are not fond of evacuating their previously-claimed territory.

Three days ago, as Hubby opened our sliding glass door to take the dog for its early morning walk, he caught the malicious marauder in my bed of day lilies, enjoying a banquet of the newly formed flower buds. Hubby throws a rock at the deer, just missing it. Deer looks at Hubby smugly and goes back to its meal. Second rock sails just past its head. Deer shrugs, and starts moseying along, casually snacking as it starts to exit the garden. Hubby now begins chasing it, and it lazily lopes toward the perimeter fence and jumps over a section that was hanging a bit low. Hubby spent the dog-walking time re-stapling the fence to its proper height.

We attributed the invasion to the fence malfunction, but this giant doe already got a taste of the candy banquet inside the garden. When I arrived home that afternoon, Cavan and I head up to her swing set, where I see the vandal again, inside the fence. I let the dog loose as well as hurl my pregnant body toward the intruder, yelling and waving like a banshee. The dog scares it and it runs smack into the fence, kicking its legs until it rips down 60-feet of black mesh before making its exit. Hubby rushes home to repair the panels before dark.

Surely, after being chased away twice, particularly by a snarling dog, it should be scared to come back, right?

The next morning, I check on the garden before leaving for work. That bastard deer came back. This time eating the tops and buds off of five of my oriental lilies and devouring most of the buds on a bed of my mini-roses. Shit man! I check the fence--no visible damage or downed panels. It has now figured out how to scale the fence. Well, there's nothing I can do before work, so off I go, praying that the hot weather will cause my new worst enemy to lay low during the day.

Of course not. The deer had to pick hell week for its stealth attack. The last full week of school, where I have eight billion papers to grade, after school meetings, and a multitude of other responsibilities preventing me from spending a single second in the garden. Same with Hubby. I have a recipe and all the ingredients for deer repellent, but at that moment I had no viable time for mixing it up and spraying it on. When I arrived home from work, I found 3/4 of my oriental lilies topped off. I have 30 of them in a border along our patio wall. Only six remained that evening. I went to bed last night, literally praying that the deer would hold off their assault till the weekend when I could meet them head-on.

This morning, with apprehension, I opened our patio door. Disaster. Not only were all the buds of the lilies gone, but most of the leaves were too. I am left with naked stalks. When Hubby left at 7:00 am, they were fine. Well, not fine, but in the same condition as the previous evening. Two hours later, when I checked on them--munched down to their spines. But that's not all. Every rose bush was eaten. I have six-size, full bloom rose bushes. Every flower, every bud. And every remaining day lily. Gone. And all my miniature hollyhock, which hadn't started budding, but probably won't now since 90% of their foliage is gone. I was seriously depressed all day.

Though I had to rush home after school to go to Hubby's school art exhibition this evening, I stopped at the nursery and bought Liquid Fence. Oh it's so foul. Cavan watched as I held back my vomit while misting my entire garden with the putrefied-egg-and-garlic based spray.  I had to shower immediately afterward because my legs and arms were coated in a fine mist of rotten foulness due to the light breeze while contaminating my garden. Please, please stop the deer. I cant' bear the heartache of watching my hard work and patience be devoured by mangy, tick-infested creatures.

BUT, I do hope the deer come back one more time. On Saturday morning when I'm laying in wait, BB gun in hand, ready to shoot them in their faces. Yes, I want the satisfaction of inflicting painful punishment. I can only fantasize about having a real gun and watching deer blood spurt across our patio.

Deer devastation revisited

Yesterday, after a restless sleep due to nightmares about rabid deer and maniacal tomato plants, I had the opportunity to revisit my deer-damaged garden with a more objective, rather than emotional, lens.

Yes, the deer did inflict some trauma, but decimate, not really. It could have been a lot worse. We have a three and a half foot fence around our vegetable garden beds—mainly to help keep out critters like our dog, for one, and then groundhogs, rabbits, or other pesky varmints. It looks like the deer did not enter the veggie garden, but rather leaned over the fence to reach the delicacies on the borders. The tomatoes and a few eggplants. While four of the tomatoes were chewed down to stalks, the deer were generous enough to leave some foliage on most of them, so I think they will come back. Good thing I have 11 plants left standing, as my harvest from half of them might be weakened. We’ll see.

The dozen or so phlox starter plants that they ate were all divided from a neighbor’s garden. Since they were free and I’m sure I can go steal some more if I want, I’m not completely heartbroken over those. I’m more upset about the mastication of my two baby blueberry bushes. I hope they come back.

My mum, which had about 20 flower buds on it already, now only has one flower bud. But this is also a plant that the above-mentioned dog has, against my cursing and punishment, claimed as his pissing post. Plants don’t appreciate dog urine, and the foliage on its bottom half has turned the same shade of yellow as its most frequent beverage. I feel like there is a doggie shock collar in my future.

But as depressed as I was about these garden setbacks upon initial discovery, I am a resilient and optimistic person. Hubby and I have resolved to prevent the past from repeating. After work yesterday, Hubby spent the evening reinforcing the deer perimeter fence, as well as lacing the nearly-see through black mesh with bright pink warning ribbons. Not that deer can see in color, but the ribbon does at least make the fencing noticeable so they don’t accidentally run into it.

Similarly, I set out to buy ingredients for a deer repellant recipe that a friend of mine forwarded. I tried commercial deer repellant last year, mainly on our front garden, which isn’t fenced in and is planted with hostas and impatiens, otherwise known as deer candy. BUT, that potent and disgusting concoction of manure, garlic, cloves, rotten eggs, and other nasties, repulsed me even more. I refused to smell that noxious aroma every time I entered and exited my house. I can’t enjoy my garden if my garden spurs my vomit reflexes.

The recipe we will be trying was designed by a Connecticut horticulturalist who is affiliated with the NY Botanical Gardens. Pretty good resume. She claims that while it reeks while the formula is in liquid form, as soon as it dries on the plants (or perimeter fences), the smell is undetectable to the human olfactory system. Too good to be true? We’ll see, but it’s cheap to make, so worth a shot!

I had to stop by a local nursery to see if they carried one of the ingredients, so while I was there, I couldn’t help myself—I bought four plants. Lavender, chocolate mint, creeping thyme, and lemon balm—all perennial herbs. (They didn’t have the necessary ingredient). I know some women that can’t pass a shoe store without making a purchase; that’s me at a garden center. But after the losses I suffered yesterday, buying brand new healthy plants made me happy. Now, if only the temperatures would climb out of the 50s and into pre-summer digits. Seriously, I’m still wearing sweaters. While my peas, broccoli and cabbage are loving this super cool spring, all of my other plants are peaking out of hibernation at a snail’s pace. I won’t get greedy and hope for an 80-degree day, but consistent 70s would be nice from here on out!

Damn deer

Actually, damn deer is not quite accurate. )F%*&ING DEER! They broke down a section of our deer fence and decimated a good part of my garden. Ate most of my tomato plants, portions of my eggplants, all of my phlox, most of my blueberry bushes, and the flower buds off my mums. I'm really depressed and angry right now. Hubby re-secured the deer fence, but I'm worried that now that they know about the delicacies of the garden, they will be more inclined to force their way in. Not a good garden day.