My Garden's Guardian
By gardennut
7 comments
I went out to my vegetable garden on Saturday morning to discover deer tracks right down the middle of my onions, carrots, and lettuce. Luckily, other than trompling a few lettuce plants, there was really no damage. However, it was a great reminder of the vulnerability of my garden since we have not had the time to fence it. So I broke out the scarecrow sprinkler I bought from a friend (she was moving and had no need of the sprinkler anymore) and I had my husband install it. My friend had told me how wonderfully it worked – keeping animals like deer and turkeys out of her roses – so I bought it from her before she left. It has been sitting in the garage since September and I had yet to do anything with it other than put a new battery in it, so out it came on Saturday afternoon for its first “test run”. My husband hooked it up to the hose, turned it on, and then had fun figuring out just how far away you could be and still activate the sensor. It honestly picks up motion from quite a distance – hubby got sprayed quite a few times while I stood back and laughed . . . :) At any rate, the sprinkler now stands guard over my vegetable patch – hopefully between the noise it makes and the water it sprays it will keep the wayward deer from vandalizing my plants. We’ll see . . .
6 Jul, 2010
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If you're on a water meter it could be a deer do.;-)
7 Jul, 2010
lol Heron. Or perhaps, because the weather is so warm, the deer and other animals will pop along for a nice cool shower....:o) Seriously though, I hope it works for you and stops your veggies from being vandalized.
7 Jul, 2010
I will get picks shortly Ladybug - had to buy a new camera as my old one finally gave up the ghost. And no worries Heron, we're on a well and actually irrigate out of a creek, so water isn't an issue - thank goodness! Not that it runs all the time, anyway - it only comes on in 5 second bursts when the sensor is tripped, it makes a bunch of noise and squirts water in the direction of the movement, and then shuts off again. So far so good - even my neighbor's cats seem to have stopped using my garden as a urinal . . . :) Now I just need to figure out the gopher issue!! It's always something . . .
7 Jul, 2010
How is your sensor working with your deer problem? Hope it's successful :)
4 Apr, 2011
I made it through last summer with no deer damage except for the one night that I forgot to turn the sprinkler back on after picking some lettuce and tomatoes. Don't ask me how the deer knew that the sprinkler wasn't on!! :) Thankfully they just ate a few tomatoes and left some foot prints in my beds . . . .
7 Apr, 2011
For all the years I watched my parents do battle with the local deer population, I don't think we ever heard of the sprinkler solution. Of course, they have all passed away now and our property on Bowen Island (in B.C.) has long since been sold. They still have the deer problem there though....and a black bear and cougar. Lots of fun!
Good that the deer only chose to eat your tomatoes....they can be so destructive.
9 Apr, 2011
Recent posts by gardennut
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27 Dec, 2009
interesting to see if it works,and some pics of your veg patch would be nice with it going
7 Jul, 2010