We tried to grow a vegetable garden this past summer here in central Georgia. Despite our total lack of preparation, or experience in this climate, it was coming along fairly well, until THEY found it. THEY are, of course, the accursed deer.
They munched nearly everything to the ground. They chewed ALL the leaves off the okra plants, (leaving a few pods, just to taunt me, I suppose); they annihilated the kamote, (sweet potato), vines; they stepped on, squashed, and just plain damaged the bitter melon vines; they chewed the tomato plants to bare stubs; they munched away on the eggplant and green pepper plants until there was almost nothing left, and what they did not eat from the squash vines they simply squashed!
They did all this, but were careful not to disturb the kudzu or poison ivy!
About the only plants they did not consume were members of the mint family, (or at least plants that I believe are members of the mint family): basil, anise hyssop, and spearmint. Oh, and onions. They don't appear to enjoy munching on onions.
I HATE DEER! The best way to control these vermin would be to shoot them, but, alas, there is an elementary school behind us, and firing a gun in such a setting would take an act of such extreme redneck stupidity that even I could not do it.
The next best solution is a tall privacy fence. That, unfortunately, takes more cash than we have on hand at the moment, and our budget is in such a state of disarray that we will probably not be able to afford it for the foreseeable future.
I guess this means we'll be growing a lot of onions, basil, anise hyssop, and spearmint next year. Or at least kudzu and poison ivy!
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