We moved onto the farm in January, months before it seemed reasonable to even think about anything growing from the ground, so we made some garden plans, but maybe not the most precise plans, what with being overwhelmed by boxes and, uh stuff. Dr. Evil’s father has planted various gardens all over the property over the 20-odd years they lived here, and his final iteration was a hoop garden directly in front of the house. The hoop garden is basically a shrunken Quonset hut made of hog fencing arching across a garden plot about ten feet wide. At its peak in the middle, the hoop rises about five feet above the ground. The purpose here is to deer-proof the garden. For those unwise to the ways of whitetail deer, they will eat anything, everything, most especially anything you do not want them to eat. They especially love tender, young shoots. It’s understandable, but infuriating.
We were dubious about working in a garden-cum-mineshaft, but went ahead and planted in the hoop garden. Long story short, Dr. Evil hated it, and we prevailed on her father, with his whizbang tractor, to till us a new plot elsewhere, sans hog fencing. Time-wise, we were coming in just under the wire for some of the stuff we were planting, but surely late was better than stooped.
This time, we decided to employ monofilament as deer-proofing. It seems many folks have had success surrounding their garden plots with several strands of fishing line stretched tight between fence posts. The reasoning is that deer will bump into the monofilament and retreat, having encountered something they can feel but not see.
IT WAS A SMASHING SUCCESS!! For the first couple weeks, that is. This morning, Dr. Evil discovered that a lone deer had entered the plot — without breaking any strands, meaning that it leapt over something it allegedly could not see (something deer are not supposed to do)—and devoured our tomato plants, peas, cucumbers and basically anything it could get its greedy lips on.
Where do we go from here? Kroger, maybe. I dunno.