Deer can spell disaster for a Heirloom / Open Pollinated Vegetable Garden. They usually feed in your Vegetable Garden in the early morning or late evening, when no one is around. I guess because if you were around then you wouldn’t let them feed in your Vegetable Garden! One or two deer can virtually destroy a vegetable garden in one night. Far from fussy eaters, they eat almost everything found in the family Heirloom / Open Pollinated Vegetable Garden. Deer can chew young Vegetable Plants to the ground. Deer will eat almost anything: fruits, vegetables, flowers, and foliage. On small trees, especially fruit trees, they relish the growing tips in summer and the buds in winter.

A 6-foot wire fence wall will deter deer even though they could jump over it, because they are less likely to bother a yard or garden that they might have to work to get at. If you use a solid wood fence where the deer can’t see the Vegetable Garden you could use the logic that if they can’t see it they won’t know it’s there, but they do have a really good sense of smell. If you don’t care about looks or are desperate enough to try anything, a double fence of string has also been proven to work. The second fence should be 3 feet inside the first; both should have three strings and be 3 feet tall. The double fence confuses the deer and they won’t try to jump. Make sure the string is easy to see. Human hair, available from beauty parlors or barber shops, provides some protection if the deer aren’t desperate for food. Use mesh bags with 1 inch or smaller mesh, and fill each with large handfuls of hair. Hang them from branches about 30 inches from the ground no more than 3 feet apart. You can even spread the hair around on the ground. Trying to keep the deer out of your garden can be a lot of work, but it is worth it to protect the fruits of your labor! No one likes to go out in their garden one day to find their plants destroyed in the night by deer.