Deer Proofing Your Garden: Where Deer Stop and Sanity Begins

Got deer destroying your garden? In this episode of The Garden Mixer, Leslie Harris and Marianne Willburn dive deep into everything you must know about deer fences, sprays, repellents, obstacles, garden design tricks, and real-world solutions to reclaim your garden from hungry deer.

From homemade deer spray recipes to electrified wires, granular repellents, fence height myths, and whether motion-sensor deterrents actually work, this episode breaks down the truth about protecting your plants when Bambi turns into a garden villain.

We share:
🌱 What kinds of fences really stop deer
🌱 How tall your deer fence needs to be (hint: 6 ft MAY be enough)
🌱 Affordable alternatives when you can’t install a fence
🌱 Our favorite commercial deer repellents
🌱 DIY deer spray ingredients that actually work
🌱 Why deer-resistant plant lists are only guidelines
🌱 The emotional toll of deer damage (yes, gardeners everywhere feel your pain)

PLUS — we talk about:
🦌 Deer behavior (jumping, crawling, limbo… yes, really)
🦌 How deer contribute to tick-borne diseases like Lyme and alpha-gal
🦌 The surprising ways deer find weak spots in your garden


And stay to the end for Damn I Wish I’d Planted That, featuring:
✨ Illicium parviflorum ‘Florida Sunshine’ — an evergreen with glowing foliage and incredible winter interest
✨ Pyracantha-- killer berries (and thorns!)

If you garden in an area with deer — suburban, urban, or rural — this episode is PACKED with practical solutions, humor, and hard-won wisdom to help you protect your garden and your sanity.

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