Newbie researching like crazy!

I've bought the book, read it, and now planning like crazy to get everything ready late Feb, early March. My biggest concern is protecting my garden. I'm on 1/2 acre and we do not have a fence. No one in the neighborhood really does, so that it is more open. Problem is that we are near the edge of a forest and any given day I can have about 7 deer in my back yard! Do I have to go all out and put up a fence, or should I be okay with the critter cages (not sure what I'd do about the trellis) and maybe try some Irish Spring soap? I only plan on starting with 2 4x4 boxes (each with a trellis). I may be over thinking this, but this part is keeping me up at night, LOL!

Greetings and to the SFG Forum! To answer your question about protecting your garden, yes, a fence of some sort is the best defense against deer. I think they just walk around the soap bars. The good news is that you will have a small area to fence in... unless you expand your garden plans. Good luck!

Welcome! The folks on the forum are awesome. Most any question will get answered. And, yep, I'd fence in my boxes. We went past just the usual fence and added bunny fence on top of the deer fence and left the zip tie ends sticking out. We used chicken wire zip tied to the net wire. We dug a ditch and extended the chicken wire down into it then backfilled over it. We didn't see any sign of either critter on the wrong side of the fence.



This is the beginning of the bunny fence. Love my lil Mantis!



Part of my bunny ditch crew finding huge worms as a benefit of their work. The kids and grandkids had a ball working on this together.



This is a close up of the bunny fence with the zip ties sticking out.

great pictures. I keep studying the forum but I am still clueless on how you post pictures. I have read that you post them to a public site, but I am too computer illiterate to decipher that. Any info on this would be appreciated.

There is a thread in the forum that tells you how to do it. Here's a link to the thread.

How to post a picture located on your computer

I would put a fence up if you can afford it. I have a deer problem and I have boxes all over around my house and it is pretty much impossible to fence it in. I had pretty good luck last year with coffee grounds all over the grden and the yard and I also sprinkled cayenne pepper all over my plants but they ended up getting the best of me by the end and it is devestating when you go through all that hardwork just to feed the deer. I am trying t come up with solutions this year. Hubby got my a paintball gun for Christmas that will be fun, at least I will be able to pick out retuning offenders, muahahahaha.

to the forum and SFG!
I have a fenced in back yard and still benefitted from a perimeter fence secured to my boxes to keep the pups and toddler out and it also doubles as a nice support to secure the plastic and bug netting to as needed. If you're looking for frugal, I've seen people use anything from free pallets and a basic roll of netting. If you're looking for long term and ready to invest a little, a nice tall fence should keep those deer out of YOUR harvest. You might even find some good options on craigslist or freecycle. My mom had mentioned she was looking into an ultrasonic, solar powered deterant device, but she hasn't found one worth getting yet to know how well they work.
Have fun in your research and keep us posted on your plans!

Thanks for the tips so far! Hubby wants to fence in our backyard, but we'd be starting a trend, but that would def solve a lot of the issues!

Here's another option: http://strawbalegardens.com/store/motion-sensor-sprinkler

A motion sensor sprinkler that triggers when any critter comes into your space. Deer are shy and I have heard good things from people in my area using them.

We have a large dog and 25 head of cattle that seem to keep them away.

At my old house, further up the mountains and deeper into deer territory, my next door neighbor had terrible problems with the deer so we gave him bags of our dog's hair. He's a long hair and when he is shedding we get bags of it. He spread that around his roses that they had been chomping down on and they never came around.

Good luck & Welcome!
Audrey

audrey.jeanne.roberts wrote:Here's another option: http://strawbalegardens.com/store/motion-sensor-sprinkler

A motion sensor sprinkler that triggers when any critter comes into your space. Deer are shy and I have heard good things from people in my area using them.

We have a large dog and 25 head of cattle that seem to keep them away.

At my old house, further up the mountains and deeper into deer territory, my next door neighbor had terrible problems with the deer so we gave him bags of our dog's hair. He's a long hair and when he is shedding we get bags of it. He spread that around his roses that they had been chomping down on and they never came around.

Good luck & Welcome!
Audrey

I'm liking this idea!

I have been told to use human hair as well. The barber will give it to you.

I have seen powdered coyote urine will work. Two sources are Deer Out (tm) deer repellent and Liquid Fence Repellent. These have to be reapplied every 3-4 months. Will also keep other prey animals out too.

Only way to keep deer out is a fence.
We live close to the middle of town, herds of deer browse here, I blocked their normal path they come in off the street, only one way out.
Our deer are humanized (thats what bears are called in the smokie mts when no longer afraid of humans)
I have sat at night by our pear tree, they are within 15 feet of me and still eat while they look at me..you bet they smell me, our houses are 10 feet apart here, people all over the place.
I fenced my small garden with small tress from the woods, placed branches crossways with 2x3 wire keeping rabbits out.
My fence wire is only 3 feet hi, that's hi enough to keep deer from jumping through because I have 5 ft hi angle irons hammered deep down to keep the beds secured.
Wisteria, mornng glories, and kiwi plants drape around the fence in nice weather.
The deer will not jump into an area they sense as dangerous.
Believe me, other than a fox, or a dog keeping watch ((AINT)) nothing gonna keep them from eating but a fence, well maybe lead will, but thats a one on one deal.I have pics I can send you if you like, not going to place them in an online program.
Jimmy

We had deer stroll thru our yard as well. Even nibbled from the bird feeders.



But when they nearly wiped out my newly-planted dwarf orchard I tried a trick with soap. Using Irish Spring (I heard it must be a deodorant soap), I dropped one in a net bag and tied the bag to a short fence around each of my trees. I just couldn't fence in the area no-way no-how. I placed them beside each tree. I now hang 2 or 3 around each tree.



I couldn't believe it myself. Was it coincidence or just plain luck. I have no idea, but the deer never touched my trees again. The trees with chomped off limbs started to grow back and to date, no further deer problems. I refresh the soap each spring and leave it on thru the winter.



In 2012 I harvested the first 13 Red Haven peaches from my one peach tree and apples from my one Honeycrisp apple tree.

You could try it to see if the deer in your area come close where you hang some Irish Spring soaps then you'll know if it'll work for you. It may not work for you but it won't cost much to try it.

In time deer will become adjusted to the scent of whatever it is your using.I have had conversations about this with the PA game commission, along with our local PA state extension rep.
Just be careful and watch it.
Heck they even come and eat our Japanese Yews. I had to put up a deer fence for our 60 yr old yews
I do hope your soap continues to work for you

Hopefully this links. deer fencing Those are pictures of my garden 2 years ago with U-posts (I think that is what it is called) and plastic fencing. They are attached to the posts with velcro ties and open at the front and back of each box for access.

We are not allowed to have fences in our neighborhood unless they are around a pool. If anyone challenges it, then I will say it is not permanent - even though I leave it up all year. So that has been my solution for the past two years.

On the north end of the boxes - the side that is closed in the picture - I added trellises as described in the book to the gardens last year. Since the fencing is only 4' high or so, I draped bird netting onto the top of the trellis and onto the green fencing. The fencing on the trellis side is about a foot away from the box, but I figured the deer could lean into and chomp away.

So far, this has worked with keeping out the deer.