I have always loved nature, animals, wildlife, etc., but I’m not so fond of the wildlife turning my expensive yard “flair” into their favorite menu item.
Although we live in suburbia, we can see downtown Cleveland during certain seasons when there are little or no leaves on the trees in the ravine behind our house. Despite our close proximity to the city, deer are still regular visitors to our yard. We love our visitors except during incidents where, in a matter of minutes, they turned $100 worth of patio geraniums into an afternoon feast.
I just talked about my extreme dislike for weeds, and if I could train my deer to eat only the weeds we would be in good shape, but that’s not likely to happen.
On the bright side, I have discovered a wonderful deer and rabbit repellent. It’s called Liquid Fence and was developed by a retired chemical engineer after he moved to the Poconos and wanted to keep the deer out of his gardens. It’s all-natural, environmentally safe and smells like hell. Sincerely. It’s made of putrid eggs, garlic and water. When I spray it on the flowers, our daughter screams “Blech! Oh no, Mommy, you sprayed it again!” and makes a face similar to a cartoon character.
But more importantly, it’s safe for flowers, fruits, vegetables – whatever you want to keep the animals from consuming – and it won’t absorb into the produce, so no worries. Your homegrown veggies won’t taste like rotten eggs!
Yes, it smells awful when you’re spraying it, but as soon as it dries the smell disappears. I’m okay with the temporary smell because it’s safe, effective and it makes it less likely that my flowers disappear.
photo by: www.shop.com
Yeah, but it didn’t stop the 10 deer from walking into the backyard this morning and busting moves on those tall flowery things. No, I have no idea what they’re called. You probably didn’t spray those. Oh well, deer gotta eat too?
Jim Kukrals last blog post..And The Oscar Goes To… Jim Kukral
Okay, Mr. Exaggeration! First of all, it wasn’t 10 deer. They did actually walk right past all of the flowers, except for one mama deer, who nibbled on the tall flower that grows out of the yucca (which I don’t really think is a yucca)! And as a matter of fact, I never sprayed it! They never ate it before! Well, time to do another pass of the yard, right?
Doreen, you absolutely deserve an award for “best headings in a blog post.” I have friends who actually purchase coyote urine to pour around their yard. I guess deer don’t like hanging out where the coyotes have been.
Dor, I love your blog I just got around to checking it for the first time. I think this will get a good following you have a great way to keep me interested in what your saying. Now as far as the deer issue, it does put you in a bad spot, just far enough outside the city to enjoy nature but not deep enough in nature that the coyotes in Summit County can help you out – you don’t have a little dog do ya? (don’t tell Kevin i said that!)
Tracy – Thanks! 🙂 (I was actually kind of proud of myself for coming up with this one!) And I will definitely pass on the coyote urine! That is too much for me! But whatever works….as long as it’s environment, right?!?
Matt – I’m glad you came by (finally!) 🙂 Glad that you like it too! And I will not bust you to Kev…as long as you don’t tell him that I never told him about the foxes around here when he visited in December!