Deer Fencing Assessment

This yearling spent last summer feasting in our yard. Yesterday it just looked through the fence.

We experimented with two types of deer fencing this year for our first summer garden. One side of the yard had three rows of carpenter string that had been strung between rebar attached to the wooden fence posts. The rebar added three feet of additional height to the five foot field fence, and was bent at an angle extending outward. The concept was that the deer wouldn't jump the fence because of the height and the added dimension.

The other side of the yard had pruning pieces woven into the field fence adding additional height, at irregular intervals and in an irregular pattern. The concept was that the deer would not be able to jump the fence because of the spatial irregularities.

Both sides proved to be successful at keeping the deer out all season. Our only interloper was a bobcat, and we're fairly certain it made it over the fence at the wooden fence posts.

We know that without the fencing we would have never harvested as much squash, apples, onions or pears as we did this year.

A sample of what we harvested this month.

And despite our "keep out" attitude the deer still like to hang out and be lazy in the front of our house, where we planted things they don't seem to want to eat at all: lavatera, dahlias, and bachelor buttons. Very cool.

Content in the tall grasses next to the driveway.