deer – Ahuva’s Blog

Ahuva Net 3.0

The battle of wits between gardeners and deer continues this year unabated. Since the local towns continue to develop every square inch of land, the deer have no choice but to wander through town, foraging. Something needs to be done to control the deer population. In many respects I’d prefer that the towns stop developing all the land. Since that development does often help lower my property taxes I admit to a little support for the concept. But I was born and raised here and am astounded at how brazen the wildlife has become, been forced to become. This year we are all commenting on the huge increase in rabbits. I can only defend my property against the deer. They are big and easier to block. I concede the ground routes to the rabbits, ground hogs, possums, raccoons and whatever else figures out the back way to my garden. My most sincere apologies to my neighboring cat because her catnip has ended up behind the net. I hope she figures out she can get to it the long way around.

I am, however, holding my own against the deer. Last year, Ahuva Net 2.0, saw me purchase deer netting (Vigaro Deer Block, 7 ft x 100 ft) and bamboo poles. It worked, but the way I set it up also kept ME from getting to the plants. 🙂 This year I resolved to tackle that issue. I also didn’t like the way I attached the netting – I threaded the poles through the nets. That was tricky. I decided to switch to 6′ tall plastic stakes for securing the net in front of the in-ground front bed. I decided to start there and see how it worked out before trying to protect the planters along the front walk.

The plastic stakes were much sturdier than the bamboo which made getting them into the ground securely simpler as well. Last year I put up one continuous wall of netting. This year I planned to cut the netting into segments, defined by the plastic stakes. I taped the netting to one pole securely (Gorilla water-proof tape). I cut the segment to slightly overlap the next pole and then used binder clips to attach that side to the pole. *laughing* Hey, I have a TON of binder clips and they were the right size and handy. I wasn’t sure it was even going to work so I didn’t want to go buy some other kind of clip while I was still in “beta” mode. Because I was doing it in segments I could follow the outline of the garden more closely than I could last year. It also enabled me to wrap around the side and then put a segment blocking side access to the front. Dealing with the netting is truly annoying. It catches on everything, I’m short and trying to get it high enough is difficult, and it was in many ways very frustrating. Ultimately however it worked, it is working and it’s doing exactly what I hoped. Nothing in that front garden has been munched or chomped. Several times now I have unclipped a segment to add plants (my seedlings) and to do a little cleanup. It took several hours to get that front ‘wall’ built but hey – I’m retired now. *grin* I HAVE several hours. I confess that even though I went slowly and rested, it was exhausting.

this picture is before I reorganized the pots and netted the herbs & tomatos

Protecting the big planters I use to line my walk needed a different approach. They need protection front, back and from the top. Originally I thought I’d drive the supporting posts into my lawn and drape the netting from there. I realized almost immediately that it would work better if the posts were in the pots themselves. The pots are large and deep, so there was sufficient depth. It was difficult to drive the posts into the lawn in that area, and they were much lower if they were in the lawn than if they were in the pots. In the past I’ve put all those pots on rolling bases so that I could move them easily to get to the lawn or rearrange them. I decided that this year I was going to eliminate the bases and put the pots directly on the walk. That actually made them easier to manage, not more difficult. The next issue was how to cover the top and the side.

front net up, sidewalk pots not yet planted or netted. so netting those pots necessitated planting them first. then as soon as they were planted I had to get the net up to protect them. Again – an entire day’s work

I’d get a straight side of netting down the “back” along the lawn, but the “front” along the walk needed to have some way to keep the net off the plants. Measuring from one side of the pots up, over and down the other side was roughly 13′. The netting is only 7′. I rotated my approach. I ended up with 3 13′ segments of netting, overlapping so that nothing could get between the ‘joins’ of the segments. I anchored them with garden staples. I couldn’t manage the net segments by myself. 😦 I’m too short and they catch too much. My husband came out to help me drape the net. Working together we figured out the best way to keep the netting from tangling. He’s tall enough with a sufficient arm span that he could spread the net wide across the plants. Once the segments were spread I could anchor them with binder clips and garden stakes. The garden stakes drive the net down to the soil of the pots while the clips are holding it to the poles and to the rims of the pots. It seems to be doing what I expected and I am able to detach it to get underneath to pull weeds. I regret that the plants are not accessible to flying creatures, but unless and until I figure out how to build a side wall along the walk, the only way to keep the deer out is a top net.

I finished up by rearranging all my herbs and vegetables. I have a small section of tomato plants and herbs protected by the netting. It starts at the last pole of the front garden and is in segments, with the supports again in the pots. There is a break between this section and the pots along the walk so that I can cut through with the hose. Since I only need to protect one side I don’t need to drape the top and I get the full 7′ height. I moved my most aromatic herbs in front of the porch beds: lemon balm, rosemary, oregano, sage and chives. The word is that deer don’t like plants with strong odors. My personal belief is that the deer are going to eat whatever they can find because they are hungry. For the time being those plants are NOT netted, but the arrangement is such that if I’m forced to protect them I can put up more netting.

if you look at the bottom of the pots, you can see how the net does really disappear. The tarragon to the left is not netted because nothing has been eating it and it’s another supposedly “too smelly for deer”. The break in the netting is between the square pot and the 2 round ones. I’ve been able to put a mandevilla and a hibiscus (not in these pictures) in the front garden because the deer can’t get to them now. I picture them with their noses pressed to the netting gazing longingly at the tropicals. 🙂 HAH!

I really like this approach – the Vigoro deer block – because it does NOT block the view of the flowers. I was amused while I was putting it up by the folks who came by and commented on my activity. Most of them did not realize that the netting was already up in front of the front bed. I’d point out to them that they didn’t notice the net because they could see the plants so easily – our eyes just discount the netting they way they discount the screen when we look out a window. I do think that the netting along the front walk is more noticeable (since it’s front, back and top) but I’m hopeful that once the flowers are in full bloom that is what gets noticed. I must have shown the Vigoro package to 4 or 5 passerbys who all got excited about this method to protect THEIR plants. 🙂 Deer Wars. 🙂

Alium, clematis, choreopsis, lemon balm, sage, rosemary, oregano, chives

A Little Moment of Joy & Beauty

Some weeks I really, really need to look at flowers and butterflies and even the deer. Good grief, what is WRONG with some people????? There is so much happening with the renovation, which is very good news. But I’m sitting here listening to the new floor being installed upstairs. There is crashing and banging that happens after long interludes of quiet or fairly ‘gentle’ installation sounds. I don’t know what he is doing up there to make the house shake, but each time it happens I cringe. He’s working right over my head at the moment. You may remember the HVAC team was working in that room and stepped through the dining room ceiling. I hope my ceiling and my nerves survive today.

They have no fear. I walked out on my front porch and all they did was look at me. I am standing perhaps 10 yards from them at most, and they kept munching away. Nothing too precious growing there at this time.

AhuvaNet 2.0

After my first attempt at netting my garden seemed to have holes in it *giggle*, I decide to up my game. 🙂 I wanted to move the nets up and out from the plants, so that nothing could nibble through the netting. My neighbor mentioned that the deer had totally stripped her mandevilla plant, although to date they’d not touched mine. They (or the groundhogs) had consumed nearly all of the potato vine in the base of that pot, but not the mandevilla itself. I decided that as long as I was going to re-work the netting along the front walk, I’d do “something” about protecting the plants in front of the hedge – which is where there is no longer a pale orange gladiola.

if you are walking by on the sidewalk, you still see flowers first, and then the netting

I stared at all the different net and screen material in the store, some nylon/plastic, some wire. I chose nylon netting for 2 reasons: easier to handle and a little less obvious. I stayed with the chicken wire (as opposed to screen material) because I think that webbing is sufficient to deter the deer but still let the insects move about, and let the flowers be seen.

the green plant stakes do a decent job of keeping the netting off of the plants themselves

I wanted to drape the net over all the pots along the front walk, but not on the plants directly. I realized that I could use the plant stakes I had already to lift the net up above the plants and out to the sides of the pots. That worked quite nicely. I’ve anchored the bottom under various pots and so far it appears to be stable. It’s only been 3 nights but no obvious damage in those 3 nights.

the front netting wraps about the side of the gladiola

Protecting the front garden was going to be a bit more tricky. I wanted it protected but not obscured. I needed a fence stretching across the whole front, and hope that the deer would not be smart enough to figure out they could go around the side of the house and come in through the back. 🙂 The only draw-back to the netting that I’ve noticed so far is that I’ve made it difficult for butterflies to get to the flowers. 😦 I realized this when I saw a huge beautiful butterfly on my zinnias. I’m not sure I can have it both ways – No to Deer, Yes to Butterflies – but I’ll give it more thought.

there’s easily 2 feet between the hedge and the netting, and the stupid gladiolas INSIST on poking through, no matter how I try to rearrange them

I Need A Better Net

Let’s see you get through this bamboo cloche!!!!

Something nibbled off the top of one of my grape tomato plants. I understand that hibiscus is to deer as dark chocolate is to Ahuva, but do NOT touch my grape tomatoes!!!! I have a lot of old netting and screen material in the garage from other projects so I decided it was time to be creative.

I had a very long piece of nylon netting that I strung over the potted plants along the front walk. Then I sprayed the netting with Repel-All. I’d like to think it worked but if you look closely at the photos you can see that there IS a big red hibiscus flower under the netting, but that flower is NOT there now. I’m going to guess that means the gaps were large enough for someone to reach in and snag the flower.

I took the screen material and draped it about the tomato cages. I used binder clips to hold it in place. It was actually quite easy to cut and attach, despite the fact that I was attempting this after returning from cocktails with my sister. 🙂 I had one little piece of leftover screen that I draped over the small hibiscus plant and anchored that by tucking it against other pots.

Maybe it’s working, maybe not. What DID happen last night was a savage attack on my gladiolas. 😦 I noticed yesterday that I had a gorgeous pale orange gladiola in full bloom. I didn’t have my camera with me at that moment and then forgot to go back and take a picture. She who hesitates is lost. There is NO beautiful gladiola this morning. There IS a bitten stalk. Sigh.

I think I’ll head out and look for some light-weight netting this weekend. I’ll drive stakes into the grass so I can raise the netting up off of the plants but still protect them. Not quite sure how to raise/anchor the side that is next to the walk. Maybe if I put stakes in the pots to lift the net UP, and then anchor the material under the pots that will be effective. I’d worry about watering through the netting but we’ve been placed under voluntary water restrictions. I’m not going to be doing that much watering anyway. *snort* I’ll be ‘watering’ with Repel-All and Critter Ridder.

Losing Battle

We went to dinner at friends’ house last night. Before I got in the car I sprayed all the tasty plants with Repel-all. Truth to tell, I don’t know if the plants were okay when we got home again – we were both tired and went inside and to bed. It rained last night/early this morning. We’ve needed the rain. It’s been 3 or 4 weeks since it rained last. I went out this morning and the hibiscus plants are denuded. It really is a bit discouraging. I don’t want to live in drought conditions but I have to believe that the deer came by for a post-rain snack. So in that respect the rain is NOT my friend. 😦 If they’d only stick to the flowers and not eat the leaves, the plants would regenerate so much faster. 😦

On the plus side I DO have a crop of grape tomatoes! AND I took the hedge trimmer into my own hands and dealt with the hedge. I’ve hired someone to come dig up and grind 3 bushes on the side of the house for the planned central air unit. Randy came by to give the quote either the week I had Covid or the 2nd week when I no longer tested positive but was still completely wiped out. I asked him to add trimming the front hedge to the quote. I had an email from him last Friday that said they’d be here this past week, weather permitting. Let me remind you: no rain for 3-4 weeks now. They never came, they never called, they never wrote. Yesterday morning I got out my ladders and hedge clippers, dealt with the hedge, and sent an email to Randy asking for a revised quote – no hedge trimming. I guess that would count as a winning battle, right? 🙂

“I’ll do it myself” said the Little Red Hen. And she did.

A Monday Living Up To Its Reputation

Some mornings you wake up and you just KNOW that it won’t be your favorite day of the week. I had to change sleeping locations twice during the night because my husband was incredibly restless. Even though *I* relocated to another room he followed me there a few hours later. That sent me back up to our bed.

Wait for me, Momma! I don’t LIKE that woman in the car!!!! She LOOKED at me!!

I already knew I’d not be doing my morning walk because the forecast was for rain in the hour when I’d be walking. Indeed, when I woke up it WAS gray. But not raining. It didn’t rain for another few hours, which meant I COULD have walked. And I NEEDED to walk because the bathroom scale – that treacherous, cruel, soul-crushing instrument of torture – read 2.5 pounds heavier than yesterday morning. Gray skies. weight gain, broken sleep. Not great. Came up from swapping loads of laundry about and my husband was awake. He looked wretched. He confirmed he felt wretched. I asked for symptoms. Uh oh. Yep. He tested positive for Covid. Sigh. At least I’m still showing negative on the tests and NOT feeling sick. But we’re both quarantined now for 5 days. 😦

Off for fine dining elsewhere this morning

Keeping the Hibiscus Growing

Apparently it’s going to take daily applications of Repel-All and hot chili powder to get my hibiscus and other plants to flower. I’ve had to add the zinnia to the daily treatments because I came out yesterday morning to discover the zinnia had served as a midnight snack – leaves & buds gone, just the stems left. I hate the smell of the Repel-All but hey – if this is what it takes to have flowers, stink-city it is!

Morning Deer

We have a lot of deer in our neighborhood. There are those that love ’em, those that loathe ’em, and those of us who are conflicted. The truth is that I DO feel pleasure as I walk about town and see the deer. I feel the same way about all the “wild” animals I might see: opossum, raccoon, hawks, the very occasional fox. There is something very joyful about nature despite “civilization”.

On the other hand, as a gardener, I would really prefer NOT to have to deal with the deer. There has been so much edifice development in this area that the pockets of greenery are becoming more and more scarce. The deerhave become incredibly bold, strolling down the streets even in the middle of the day. Several times we’ve pulled up to our house in our cars, whether daytime or night, and there are deer on the lawn, and the deer don’t move. They have become totally blase about cars and people. They look at us as if to say “Hey there, how are YOU today?”

Hmmm. Let’s see what’s on the menu today

I don’t know any good solutions. Hunting? Poison? Co-existence? Barbed wire enclosures? What I DO know is that I want to have a garden and I want my plants to have flowers. I do NOT enjoy plants that consist of bitten stems and branches. There’s not much color in a bitten stem, nor does it attract pollinators, butterflies, or hummingbirds.

This morning when I walked out after waking, I was looking at my rudbeckia in the front garden. I heard my neighbor calling to me from across the street. “There’s a deer in your garden!” she called. “It’s been there for hours!” I edged cautiously down the sidewalk and indeed – there was deer sitting in a nice shady spot in the lawn. Of course I took pictures. 🙂 You can see it was unconcerned with me playing paparazzi.

I went inside to take care of the cats. I could see the deer from the dining room window. It didn’t flinch as I opened the window to let in air. As I moved about inside I noticed that the deer had gotten up and was moving around the house. I grabbed my camera and went out to observe.

Oh garcon!!! A little fresh water please!

The good news is that it seemed to ignore most of my plants. It did take a bite of the False Starwort, but only one bite. The evergreen hedge got a few nibbles, but everything else was ignored. Thank goodness, since it (or a friend) had already done a number on the hibiscus plants in the pots. The deer meandered across my lawn, across my neighbor’s lawn, and then headed back behind that house.

It was a lovely interlude in my morning but it was a reminder as well. I got the “repel all” spray from the porch and doused the False Starwort and the hibiscus. 🙂 Co-existence but do NOT eat my flowers!!!!

The mandevilla does NOT look fresh today

I wish I could blame the deer for the dying mandevilla – all I can think is too much water, even though that pot is open on the bottom. 😦

Very Unexpected Visitor

Fairly certain this is a Black Swallowtail

Well. This was a surprise. I sat down to eat my lunch when a movement caught my eye. It was a butterfly. A live butterfly. Inside my house. On my grow light. 3 feet away. I did what any right-thinking person would do: called to my husband as I raced for my camera. Because after all, we know, if there isn’t a photo, it never happened.

I’m saying “what do we do with it?” since it’s going down to single digits again tonight. Obviously we can’t put it outside. My husband is saying “the cat will get it”. I’m thinking no way am I letting the cats get it. It didn’t look great – either it was starving or burned itself on the grow light or a cat had already gotten it. It didn’t look very stable once it tried to move. It moved off the grow light at some point and was between the planters. Maybe dragging a wing? a foot? NOT flying.

first round of feeding the butterfly, when I began to worry it was drowning, not drinking

So of course we tried to feed it. 🙂 I feed everyone and everything, even unexpected butterflies. Unfortunately I had no rotting food (that’s what my search turned up for ‘what do butterflies eat?’ but I did have a pear with a little brown spot. We put some sugar water, small pieces of the pear, and ultimately, some pomegranate nectar in a plate. The butterfly was still staggering, now back behind the planter. I pushed the plate near it, locked BC in the basement, and went back to my lunch

I got up to check on it and couldn’t tell if it was drowning in the sugar water or drinking it ecstatically (watch the video – you’ll see what I mean). In case it was drowning, I put a bit of paper towel near it so it could get its footing. I know NOTHING about butterflies other than that they are pretty and I like them. 🙂 It didn’t seem impressed by the paper towel…

having dined, returned to the grow light (see the added nectar in the dish)

After lunch I checked again. The butterfly was out of the dish (so it didn’t drown) and back on the grow light. I grabbed some catnip-flavored greenies, put them down in front of the basement door, and released the kracken! I mean BC. 🙂 Who devoured the greenies. I fed BC some wet cat food while I worked the daily crossword puzzle, then grabbed more greenies and BC. While BC protested vociferously (apparently she does not like being carried about) I took us both upstairs, where I strewed a trail of greenies from the top of the stairs to my office. 🙂 I’m hoping the butterfly decides/is able to fly higher. If so, I can move the plate of nectar out of cat-reach. (Although I’m not really sure where such a place might be.) Because I’m going to be very sad if my husband proves correct in this instance.

yay for the distraction power of greenies!!! and the lure of my desk

Actually – it was my day for visitors. It was raining/snowing this morning so I did not go out for my morning walk. When I pulled up the shade downstairs, I discovered my frequent morning walk companions had NOT been deterred by the weather!

I know they do a lot of damage, but I still feel delight seeing them

Find A Better Way

I get it – I have a garden too. I don’t want the hibiscus flowers bitten off my plants. I’m not fond of deer poop in my front yard.

But let’s be real for a moment. Whose fault is it that the deer have no place to live anymore? Who has insisted on developing just about every little wooded nook and cranny? Our local roads are already over-crowded. We’re driving out ALL the wildlife.

We used to have raccoons, deer, possums, ground hogs, skunks and the occasional fox. Admittedly I’m not fond of some of those, but they are nature, and I DO love that even here in suburbia wild animals can survive. Then we began overdeveloping, using lawn services with their poisons, trapping animals because they are inconvenient for our gardens. Some of us admitted defeat and changed what we planted. Also an option, right? In any case, it’s been years since I last saw a fox or a skunk. I haven’t seen ground hogs in quite awhile either. The last possum I saw I think might have been injured. Deer, we have lots of deer. So I plant a lot of deer-resistant perennials and annuals, and make sure that my tasty treats are surrounded by such things as marigolds and peppermint. I use hot chili powder as my animal deterrent.

Took this through my front door – do you see Mama? Just right of the blur.

Now there are many people in the town who claim the deer are a nuisance. The deer are raiding our gardens and spreading disease. Oh, and we humans aren’t spreading disease like crazy (ahem – covid19? remember? and I’d be willing to bet that the people complaining about the deer could be the same population that refuse to wear masks). There was a town meeting. The decision? Shoot the deer.

Walking down the driveway on the neighbors’ property (lots of weeds there)

You have GOT to be out of your minds. This is the most left-leaning town in the state, I swear that must be true. Green green green. KILLING defenseless animals is your solution? Who ARE you??? How about some non-violent tactics? The deer are all over town because they are HUNGRY. FEED THEM!! Feed them with birth control in the food. I checked. That is a solution that does produce results. Or perhaps it is better to call it a solution that leads to NO results.

Saying hello when I pulled up in my car across the street.

There is a mother with 2 fawns. I know her well. They are hanging out when I pull up in my car. They nibble the bushes along my driveway. I see them cruising down the street when I am driving. Yesterday I was on my way home and I saw one of the fawns at the side of the road, hesitating. I waited. It crossed. I waited some more. Sure enough, Mama came across. I waited and there came Fawn 2, hustling to catch up. I LIKE seeing them. I get the downside of too many deer. But these days – omg – do we REALLY need MORE violence? Can we not just stop and enjoy for a few minutes, the beauty of nature and wildlife?