Paul James, host of HGTV's Gardening by the Yard, offers suggestions on deterring deer. Few garden pests are as destructive as deer. Whether acting alone or in small herds, they can wipe out vegetable and flower gardens, trees and shrubs, and they do it virtually overnight. You can deerproof your property in various ways, but the best option is to build a fence. An effective deer fence should be at least 10' tall, preferably 12', and the cross pieces, whether wire or wood, should be spaced 8" apart. If they're any wider, deer can squeeze through them. It's also a good idea to electrify the fence. Better still is a fence that slants outward at a 45-degree angle and rises to a height of 4' (it's the depth of this fence that keeps deer from jumping over it). Such fences aren't inexpensive, and in some areas local ordinances may prohibit them. Fences aren't allowed, for example, in a neighborhood nestled in the foothills of California's Sierra Mountains (although deer are everywhere), which means residents here have to rely on other ways of keeping deer at bay. To handle minor deer problems, wrap the trunks of trees with 4'-high galvanized hardware cloth or chicken wire, or use either material to encircle plants prone to attack. The best-known deer repellent is ordinary bar soap, hung wrapped or unwrapped from strings in trees or large shrubs. The scent is said to keep deer away. Some gardeners attach soap bars to stakes and place them at 10' to 15' intervals along the perimeter of their property. Another popular repellent is human hair, whose smell is thought to send deer scurrying. Ask a barber or hairdresser to collect a bagful of hair, stuff a handful of it into the leg of an old pair of pantyhose, and hang it in your trees and shrubs -- or scatter loose hair about your garden beds like mulch. Wild-animal manure, such as that collected from zoo animals, is another form of repellent. Some commercial deer repellents contain putrescent whole-egg solids, a solution containing rotten eggs. The stench is apparently as offensive to deer as it is to people. To make your own solution, mix five whole eggs in 5 quarts of water, pour the liquid into a sprayer, and drench your plants. Do this on a hot day, and the stench will arrive shortly after you drench. Or dip rags in the solution, and hang them on plants the deer enjoy eating. Several more commercial controls are available. All work best soon after they're applied; their effectiveness diminishes within a few days, especially after heavy rains. You'll need to spray often for them to work, and repellents may work only temporarily. When food is scarce, deer learn to tolerate unappealing odors and may actually use them as indicators of where the food is. It isn't easy to keep deer away. In some cases, your best bet may be to choose plants that deer don't seem to like. Here's a short list: allium, artemisia, baptisia, butterfly bush, clethra, caryopteris, foxglove, festuca, lavender, miscanthus, monarda, nepeta, pennisetum, perovskia, rugosa roses, salvia, santolina and viburnum.
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