Gardening At High Altitude

2011, July. This deer laid down to chew her cud near me whenever I was working in my gardens. We named her Deer Dog. Contrary to what you may read, deer will eat almost anything. Different deer have different tastes and what one deer won't eat, another will think is wonderful.

2006, October. Any plant you're wintering over will need protection from the deer, especially in early spring when it starts to grow again. Laying a fence over the bed works. Here's some chives I overwintered, covered with my pea fence.

I use a temporary electric fence around my vegetable garden. For years, I used an old car battery to charge the fence but now I use this solar charger. The fence is 6 feet high and, if the wire is not charged, the deer can jump easily the fence. Deer can jump over 7 feet.

In the late spring, when I put the electric fence up around my vegetable garden, I hang aluminum foil covered with peanut butter on all 4 sides. The deer can't resist the peanut butter and, when they lick the foil, get a shock that they remember all summer.

2012, mid July. The electric fence will keep out deer, elk (usually), rabbits, raccoons, and other larger critters but not the very small ones. Chipmunks and ground squirrels will not walk over aluminum foil. Here you can see alumimun foil, held in place with rocks (which I have an abundance of), completely surrounding my vegetable garden.

2012, July. I looked down at my lower steps one day and saw this. Big red/black carpenter ants had built a nest in the railroad tie and, apparently, a bear thought their eggs and young would make a tasty meal.

2015, January. Fortunately, we also have several types of predators up here to keep the small critter population in check. This bobcat, along with two others, visited us this winter. I hope they all stay around.