Garden Supplies

Year-round, we carry a complete array of tools, gifts, fertilizers, soils and soil mixes, organic solutions, insecticides, herbicides, grass seed, insect and small mammal repellents, deer solutions, wind chimes, thermometers, rain gauges, garden apparel, edging, stepping stones, garden gloves and so much more!!

Planning a Deer Resistant Garden

Deer in the Headlights

Frustrated gardeners will be pleased to learn that careful planting and basic repellents can keep a garden lush, beautiful and possibly deer-free! While deer have been known to damage a wide variety of ornamentals, crops and trees by feeding or trampling, there are a few simple precautions the local gardener can take to protect his or her plantings from the deer population.

The only way to guarantee protection from deer damage is to fence them out with a solidly constructed barrier at least 8-feet high. A 6-foot fence can deter deer if they can not see to the other side or it is carefully slanted to thwart them. Deer will jump a fence only if they have clearance to land.

If fencing is not an option, it is essential to plant deer-resistant plants and to use repellents as effective deterrents, either contact (applied to the plants, repelling by taste and smell) or area (repelling by smell). Spraying many different repellents on a rotating basis helps break deer behavior patterns or movements.

Cephalotaxus

Planting based on deer behavior patterns provides an alternative to chemical repellents or unsightly barriers. In general, deer avoid fuzzy, spiky and prickly plants, and steer clear of plants with strong or pungent aromas. Plants poisonous to deer shoo them away, as do grasses, ferns and most herbs.

REMEMBER: Deer adapt to whatever food source is available. The following list is intended to provide the local gardener with a variety of choices that deer would likely avoid; it is not a guaranteed list.

Click here to view our list of Deer-Resistant Plants.


Valley View Farms recommends and carries the following products in our Garden Shop: (manufacturer in parentheses)