(It’s a plague of locusts, except they're cute & hairy 200lb. beasts)…
Years ago I was asked to design gardens and landscaping for a rustic log home in a remote area. Deer were constantly on the property foraging the vegetation, killing much of the owner’s ornamental planting. Researching the problem (and with a number of distracting jobs in the hopper), I quickly specified “deer-proof” plants from a list that I found in the Sunset Western Garden Book. A week after installation, I got a call from the client. “They’ve eaten everything” – and they had, almost all of the plants from the list. I realized then my mistake, one that has informed my thinking ever since. I had not “geomanced the site”, didn't understand the deer life cycle and I really hadn’t brought any eco-analytical skills to the task at hand. On the second round, we installed carefully specified natives and ornamentals that, though sometimes foraged, survived to offer seasonal color and re-establish habitat. There is a lot to know about these big fellas, so best to study up. You can find Pacific Northwest deer-related lists and more info at our episode link: http://green.kingcounty.gov/gonative/Article.aspx?Act=view&ArticleID=18 , http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/deer.html.
(BTW, if you think deer are bad, we had a client last year that needed to keep BEARS out of his garden. Our solution? While carefully watching out for those pesky critters we built a 6 foot+ heavy guage galvanized steel mesh fence. You can see it at our website at classicnursery.com …) Natural Deer Deterrent: 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.
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