I write three blogs.
This doesn’t belong in my political stuff, and it sure doesn’t belong in
the one that’s ‘adult content’ ….. So I’m putting it in my cooking blog since
cooking is often related to gardening!
I live in the country of Eastern North Carolina. When I say ‘country’ I’m talking 45 MILES
from Lowe’s and Walmart. I think Eastern
NC has a higher deer population than human population. We have spent many a hard earned dollar on
plants and shrubs that the nursery owner said ‘Oh deer – they won’t eat THAT!’ Not true.
In March and April and May, when deer are on the move and hungry after a
long winter, they will mow down anything green in one night. Particular favorites are black-eyed Susans,
young hosta, day lilies (the green parts) and ANYTHING I’ve started early in my
garden, like snow peas, sugar snaps and radishes. What they don’t eat, they trample. Deer set off our motion lights so often that most nights it looks like a
Hollywood premier.
Until……. (drumroll please)….. a friend introduced us to a
deer repellent developed right here in North Carolina by a company called I
MUST GARDEN.
Seriously…. This stuff WORKS! They think a lot of it – a bottle of the
concentrate runs about $35 and can be found nationally to independent garden
centers, hardware stores, natural food stores, or you can buy it on line. I’ve round it at ACE Hardware, but of course,
NOT at the ACE in my town.
READY TO SHOOT
For large areas, mix it in a pump sprayer…. I find a quart
squirt bottle works fine in my little (over the septic Erma Bombeck) garden… I
just spray the perimeter and anything breaking ground for first time or two…. After
than I just spritz the perimeter. Stuff
smells horrid until it dries, and if you don’t have a week of monsoons, you don’t
have to spray but every 2-3 weeks. Deer
are stupid but they seems to learn that THIS STUFF is bad, bad, bad and after a
week or two, they will move on. [Ed. Note – the website says they have a mint
and a spice scent – didn’t know and haven’t tried either…. I just know the
original stinkypoo does the trick where we live.]
CONCENTRATE
They also make other varmint repellents, such as rabbit and
squirrel…. Haven’t tried those. I just
pop those critters with a .22 and put their furry asses in the crab pots.
They sell the ‘ready-to-squirt’ bottles but I recommend the
concentrate.
And there you have it!
Happy Gardening!
