Brecksville's Handy Homeowner: Dealing With Deer

If you live in or around Brecksville, chances are you’re familiar with white-tailed deer. They’re beautiful, but they seem to eat everything and be everywhere!

According to the Gardening in Deer Country.com, deer can eat 10 pounds of food per day. They prefer to eat food in its most nutritious stage, like fruits and vegetables just as they are becoming ripe. And when food is scarce, they will eat most anything, even “deer-resistant” and poisonous plants.

To keep the deer from eating your garden or ornamental plants, the Ohio State University Extension's Horticulture Office website has some recommendations. Here are a few of them, along with some of my own ideas and resources:

Fencing: This may be the most effective deterrent. For a large garden, a fence should be eight feet in height.  

I have a very small garden, and I use four-foot rolled garden fencing.  has some garden fencing like this, and it can also be found at Lowe's or garden centers.

Deer repellents: These work by using tastes and scents that repel the deer. This is a good option for a smaller garden, but the repellents have to be reapplied often. 

You can buy commercially made deer repellents like “Liquid Fence” at gardening supply stores and here in Brecksville at Larsen Lumber. You can also make your own deer deterrent, and I found a recipe for one on the website for Brecksville's Chippewa Garden Club. 

Deer-resistant plants: These are a good option, but keep in mind that when food is scarce, deer will munch on almost anything. 

Rutgers University has an extensive list of plants rated by their level of deer resistance. Some of the better-rated plants include shrubs like boxwood and viburnum, perennials like bleeding hearts and foxglove, and herbs like catmint, oregano and lavender. If you’re planting annuals this year, marigolds, larkspur, lobelia and snapdragons were all highly rated for deer resistance, along with many others. Many deer resistant plants can be found at gardening centers including in Broadview Heights, and I even saw some of these plants recently at .

One of the reasons I love Brecksville is because of the verdant landscape and the wildlife that lives in it. I respect wildlife, and the deer are beautiful to look at. But when it comes to gardening, it's us versus them.