Sunday, April 4, 2010

Oh, deer...



I am determined to have a successful vegetable garden this year. The summer I was working on Mystery Vine, I had a magically wonderful garden with a bountiful harvest. Then last year, all went terribly wrong. Torrential rains rotted two rounds of seeds, and a parade of critters-- particularly deer, groundhogs, slugs and beetles--gobbled up the third planting. So this year, I'm starting with infrastructure. We had a glorious weekend, with bizarrely warm weather. I purchased a long roll of mesh fencing, foraged the woods for poles, and erected a nine-foot deer fence around my picket-fenced garden. I hope it will convince Bambi's descendants that it really isn't worth the trouble. Festooned with white ties and fluttering ribbons, I also hope it warns the birds away from harm.
A friend of mine teased me about it this morning. "What? Nature girl? Animal Lover? YOU put up a deer fence?" she asked dramatically, a twinkle in her eye. "I love my children, too," I explained, "but I didn't let THEM go wherever they wanted to go either." So there. Next step, a chicken wire barrier to keep out the very fat groundhogs.
UPDATE: Just finished my new gate! Ta-da!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

"Have you tried deer off? I've heard a bunch of people on these blogs having success with deer off so I'm going to try this stuff. I got a good deal on it at Havahart.com. They give you 10% off if you sign up for the newsletter.
Here's the spray I bought:
http://www.deeroff.com/advantage"