Gardens & Wildlife - 7/7/10

A Difficult Year for Gardens.

It has been a difficult year for growing crops like tomatoes and peppers because of the unseasonably cool weather earlier this gowning season, not to mention the slug problems that came with the cool damp weather. Another garden problem for Illahee residents is the deer foraging on everything from roses to raspberries. We have had reports of deer munching most everything from apple trees, vegetables, and even geraniums in pots on peoples decks, not to mention rose bushes. We have attached a picture of an eaten raspberry stem.

Garden Deer Protection. We saw a fenced in garden in Illahee that reminded us of when we lived in the Yorktown, VA area where there were huge herds of deer and every garden required protection. This garden fencing was simply done with split cedar poles extending from regular fence posts and 7 foot "wildlife netting" available at Lowes for $13 for a 100' roll.

We took a picture to show how nicely it was done. Others have tried similar type of fencing and noted that it needs to be secured at the bottom also as they watched a doe lift the netting so her fawns could get in. Another person reported an unsecured corner opening was soon discovered by the deer and their garden was raided.

A Request To Decrease The Number of Deer. We have been asked to put in a notice to see if there are residents who think there are too many deer in the area such that the deer numbers should be thinned out, presumably by the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW). Let us know and we will pass the information on to them.

How Do Others Feel? While we have our own issues with deer and have been especially hit by their foraging this year, it is one of the things we like about living with wildlife in Illahee. We aren't ready to join those who want to reduce the deer population so let us know your thoughts.

Canada Geese Number? The other day our kids noted 57 Canada geese at our beach and we have had residents wonder if the geese numbers are too high. We just had to cover our blueberries with netting to protect them from the birds with a special fence to protect them from the Canada geese, who found they could sneak under the netting. Again we feel with a little extra effort we can learn to co-exist with the wildlife.

Wildlife Solutions? Let us know how you are coping with the wildlife and we will pass the information on.

Jim Aho