Oh deer do love to help in the garden. Their specialty is trimming and pruning and mowing. But alas, deer are about as helpful as toddlers, so we must learn to garden around them. We’ve got blue jays burying peanuts that they will soon forget. Foxes running in the night playing. We won’t even discuss the adorable, chubby raccoons, for they have a love of corn that rivals my husband’s.

However, I do not like to hear when folks tell me things like, “I can’t garden because of the deer.” Because of the raccoons, because of the neighbors, because of the climate, because of the drought, because of….

My goal is to write books, continue this 14 year old blog, and inspire and educate about how to garden. How to farm. Without pesticides, without fertilizers, without insecticides, without poisons! Not. even. organic. chemicals. There is a way! If you cannot tell, it is my passion. The reason I wrote my book, Whiskey and Hoes; Successful Gardening in the Wild West. The reason I am starting a tour of speaking events about gardening here made easy!

Okay, I need to lay off the caffeine and get off my podium. Ahem, let’s talk about how to garden and still be Snow White at the same time.

Fences.

I heard the neighbor yelling one morning, “Damn deer!” A deer is just eating, surviving. They do not know which trees to eat and which to not. They think salads are delicious. Invite a vegan over, and they will eat your garden!

I bought those puppy gates. The ones that are 2 feet wide and your choice high. I did 3 1/2 feet high. They fold up and are 16 feet total. I attached them to one side of the garden beds and wound them around to the other side, so my front yard perennial gardens are safe. They are only three feet from the front fence so deer won’t jump in. There isn’t much other wildlife will be interested in.

We are getting a roll of field fencing that we will fold around trees, the Jerusalem artichokes, and the front wildflower bed near the porch.

I buy 10×10 six foot high dog kennel panels that sufficiently keep most every one out. This year, my new one will have a chicken wire top to keep the adorable raccoons out of the corn.

I do not use bird netting, ever. You will kill birds. Just create a top over your temporary fencing with plastic fencing or cheesecloth, or something. I also feel like with trees and fruit, there is enough for all of us. The birds help me garden. They keep insects down and bring me great joy.

I don’t have a back fence at all leading to the alley, nor do I want one. I love sitting in my garden chair with a cup of coffee while deer wander around me, and birds sing and eat merrily from the feeders, and the wildlife camera picks up baby foxes and other creatures of the night. There is enough for everyone.

But you do have to cover what you want to harvest yourself! Happy gardening!