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| This one looks ready either to laugh or attempt talking when she sees me. |
It used to be mostly the groundhog that gave me the most trouble. I swear that my place was their local capital because there were plenty of different shapes, sizes and even coloring that would congregate for an eating frenzy at the same time before I used to run to scare them away. You would think that seeing an angry woman scolding them loudly waving a broom would be enough to do the trick.
At first, it got them waddling quickly away. However, they eventually wised up and knew that despite a broom I would never use it on them. Therefore, they used to scurvy off to the edge of my yard where I have my compost pile near our hillside. There those smart beasts would watch and wait, pretending they were gone, but only in reality be biding their time until my door closed and I was back in the house.
Then and only then, I would see heads pop up from my upstairs kitchen window when they thought the coast was clear. The next thing I knew one by one they marched out in a single file like a furry troop of soldiers set on their mission to raid my garden. So this became the daily game that the groundhogs and I used to play.
At that time, I saw the occasional deer. Even so, I never saw the deer leisurely using my place as their outdoor bistro. The true varmints then were just the groundhog, who despite all their munching left me enough vegetables to use.
A few years later, the deer made a regular appearance in my backyard. Once I counted at least twenty. These guys are so bold that you can scare them off, but they seem to be intrigued by the human voice and wanted to come closer.
One that I am starting to recognize with her distinct coloring and mannerisms might think she’s a dog. In fact, I think she likes my guy because when he’s doing yard work, she watches him but doesn’t budge an inch even when his mower moves closer to where she is standing. He had a bag in arm one day and she was inching closer, probably thinking he had more food than her ordinary garden fare. Though she is beautiful to watch, I still have to make these animals leave my yard.
I was talking to my friend who gave me some great advice on our mutual problem. Here is a DIY remedy to spray on the plants that she shared with me that she’s been using for a while. When she told me that it had hot peppers in it, I knew it had merit because usually my cayenne and jalapeno peppers are left alone.
What you do get a gallon of water and add four tablespoons each of cayenne pepper and hot sauce. She keeps this in an emptied plastic milk container before filling up a spray bottle to do what she needs. The only problem with this method is that it must be reapplied every other day or so or if it rains.
Instead, she changed that strategy for something she learned from her aunt. It is a DIY deer repellant that makes the taste and smell of the plants not to their liking. She swears that this one works even better.
Heavy Duty DIY Deer Repellant Spray
Take out your blender and add three eggs, four tablespoons of hot sauce and four tablespoons of finely chopped garlic and liquify.
Pour the blende mixture into an emptied plastic gallon milk container.
Now fill the container with water while leaving some room to dump in about a third of a 32-oz. bottle of Wilt-Pruf that you find at your garden center. This all-natural plant protector is made out pine tree resin and water that deer will find revolting while helping to strengthen the crops from weather.
Fill your spray bottle and lock up the remainder with that reserved milk cap or load several spray bottles at once.
It didn’t take much to convince me, but the Wilt-Pruf is already on my shopping list for my next excursion out to the store. I plan to mix up my own batch soon. How will you be dealing with your own uninvited local beasts?
