Deer Garden

Hello everyone. I am looking to plant a garden for deer. I want to know what plants can handle deer browsing. Even if a plant needs some protection until it's established or tall enough to out compete the deer. All types of plants from annuals to perennials to trees and shrubs. I'd like to do at leat 50 percent natives. I live in the rouge valley of southern oregon.

They love my sunflowers. Eat them at all stages of growth and even chew the dead plants in the winter. I plant them in my garden because the deer prefer them to most anything else and mostly leave the other stuff alone.

Deer absolutely love alfalfa more than anything.

We have hunted in soybean fields because deer like them, also.

Deer ate our whole sunflower crop overnight.

I am not sure how a garden would hold up to deer brows because of the way they eat.

When they nibble on my plants the plants get pulled up out of the soil.

I am looking forward to suggestion from other folks

Here on my parcel in Wisconsin the deer hit up acorns,  beech nuts,  browse on all the young Oak, Maple,  Aspen, Birch etc. Wild raspberries, Red Dog Wood and Sumac also get browsed pretty heavily.  On non native side the deer love our sprouting hostas in spring. They really hit the sunchokes as well. Recently introduced fruit/nut trees (plum apple, pear, peach, pecan and almond )which deer are already nibbling on any growth poking through the cages. Should be even better once we get fruit.

Are you able to style your deer garden as more of a meadow/pasture/brush area? I seed an area each year to cover crops; buckwheat, crimson clover, alfalfa, dikon radish, sunflower, turnips, etc. Ive been doing that for the past couple years, though its starting to self seed which is great. I get 2 main benefits:
1. In the summer I can use it for free ranging chickens, harvest green mulch, and sometimes edible yields.
2. Rather than mow in fall, I leave it standing all winter and the deer have at it, then cut in early spring. I like to think of this area as a peace offering so the deer dont bother my food forest. Occasionally I will also transplant any extra fruit tree or blackberry suckers down in this area to serve as sacrificial decoys.

PS - if you care about the aesthetics, I generally mix in some wildflower seed but thats mainly for my enjoyment, not the deer

Mitchell Brouhard wrote:Hello everyone. I am looking to plant a garden for deer. I want to know what plants can handle deer browsing. Even if a plant needs some protection until it's established or tall enough to out compete the deer. All types of plants from annuals to perennials to trees and shrubs. I'd like to do at leat 50 percent natives. I live in the rouge valley of southern oregon.

You can double up and get a lot of bee benefits if you design it right, and it can be perennial and almost zero maintenance.  I've been searching for the very same blend for over 20 years.  Here's what I'd put in, and mix this all together.  

Yellow sweet clover
Balansa clover
Alfalfa
Red clover
Winter triticale
Chicory
Hairy vetch

Plant that 8 weeks before first frost, then the exact same time next year, broadcast the same blend in there, minus the alfalfa, hairy vetch, and chicory, and then just press it flat with whatever tool you have.  All those flowers will peter out at the same time, they are ready to flatten easily, and your next crop will pop right up through it again.  That will feed deer every month of the growing season.  It is also quite stunning in full bloom.  Here's a photo of my blend from last summer.  

Be careful with hairy vetch though.  Once you plant it, you'll have it forever.  If you're not down for that, leave that one out.  

Propagation Fanatic wrote:Here on my parcel in Wisconsin the deer hit up acorns,  beech nuts,  browse on all the young Oak, Maple,  Aspen, Birch etc. Wild raspberries, Red Dog Wood and Sumac also get browsed pretty heavily.  On non native side the deer love our sprouting hostas in spring. They really hit the sunchokes as well. Recently introduced fruit/nut trees (plum apple, pear, peach, pecan and almond )which deer are already nibbling on any growth poking through the cages. Should be even better once we get fruit.

Thanks these are all very good ideas. I have a bunch of these and they all should handle deer browsing well.
Have you had to protect any of the trees or shrubs to get them to maturity or a bigger size to survive the browsing. Specifically the dogwoods and raspberries?

Mitchell Brouhard wrote:Hello everyone. I am looking to plant a garden for deer.

My garden has been eaten by deer so many times. They love sweet potatoes, green beans, and sunflowers for sure! '
This year was the first time they went after my green peppers.
They do not like my melon and pumpkin attempts, though.

Rachel Lindsay wrote: They do not like my melon and pumpkin attempts, though.

The deer thought they would try my Sugar Baby Watermelons.  The deer rolled them around like a basketball though they could not figure out how to bite into them....

Anne Miller wrote:

Rachel Lindsay wrote: They do not like my melon and pumpkin attempts, though.

The deer thought they would try my Sugar Baby Watermelons.  The deer rolled them around like a basketball though they could not figure out how to bite into them....

I am playing a video of this in my mind. HAHAHAHA!

Our fishing-line fence does keep the deer out, as long as I remember keep the entrance blocked with a chair.

Rachel Lindsay wrote:Our fishing-line fence does keep the deer out, as long as I remember keep the entrance blocked with a chair.

My single strand of string worked to keep deer out until someone moved the golf cart it was attached to .....