Sunday, June 2, 2013

Also disheartening.....

Overnight, the deer are back. 

I just can NOT catch a break lately.

Look at my poor little Prairie Fire crabapple.  Denuded.









The once lush and lovely Johnson's Blue geranium now bare stalks.














The September ruby asters were 2ce this height yesterday.
















So were the phlox.

















And the entire east side of this clump of sweet Joe Pye is gone.


There are days when I feel good enough to walk around and see how things are doing without me.  Oh, the weeds are going crazy, but I try not to angst about them.   Because up to now - we've had enough rain and things were looking good.

But now - it'll be downhill from here.  I cannot protect anything from the d^amn deer.  I had 8 years of no deer.  Then the golf course cut, pulled and burned anything close to the ground so now the deer have overflowed into the neighborhood.  It doesn't bother the nabes - they are not gardeners. 

Is that my future?  *sigh*

10 comments:

  1. Kris, I wish I knew the answer to the blasted deer but short of fencing the entire yard and then stocking it with dogs.....and that wouldn't help your garden much.

    Don't stress what you can't control. You don't need that now!

    Hope you have a good week.

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    1. Thanks, Glenda. At this point I can speculate on the attraction of automatic weapons. ;-D I'm honestly trying not to stress which means, not to care. Perhaps I should turn some of these beds back to lawn....

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  2. Hi Kris
    I had that problem last year when hubby and I were gone for most of the summer. The neighbors reported HERDS of deer in the yard.
    I'm not having trouble with them this year---I have been using Irish Spring soap. I grate it up into water to make a THICK soupy "glop" and use a long dusting brush to sprinkle it on all my plants. So far, so good. Hope this helps. You have enough on your plate without them adding to the woes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I tried several 'smelly' soaps in the past with little effect. Thing is, with 1.25 acres - I'd spend all my time making the place smell like a washroom. Glad the 'glop' works for you! Enjoy the flowers. :-D

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  3. Coyote urine? My parents live out in the boonies and they have great luck using it. Maybe your local garden store carries it?

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    Replies
    1. I've used coyote urine to little effect. I know the deer can smell it - so could everyone else in the gardens. pee-uw. But they don't seem to be bothered by it like the people were. *heh*

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  4. Oh dear Lordy, this is just so not fair and I feel so helpless sitting thousands of miles away unable to do a damn thing to help you :{

    Don't know about coyote urine, what about human pee? It's good for compost bins, can't do any harm, and is free? If you diluted it and sprayed onto plants might that deter the deer a little?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tried the 'self made' urine one year at my old house. I swear gallons of the stuff. Not one bit of difference. After the growing season, I felt rather - drained.

      Like I told Glenda - deer don't eat grass. Maybe that's all I've got to look forward to. *sigh*

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  5. Would you consider grasses then? Not something I ever thought I would plant until I saw Miscanthus sinensis at Harlow Carr on a cold February day. then I 'got' why people rave about the seed heads and leave them standing.

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    Replies
    1. I've had ornamental grasses before, but don't like all the cutting/cleanup in spring. We get heavy snows and are usually smashed down by February.

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