Hyacinths appear to be deer resistant

We just put these hyacinths out two days ago and the deer have already came by to see if they were edible. Thankfully they felt the hyacinths weren't even worth taking a bite of. I know the deer were in the area because they left a hoof print in the middle of the hyacinths! Also, very close by the deer had eaten on the Dutch irises again and even pulled one out of the ground. We will continue growing hyacinths as part of our deer resistant garden.

My advice on how to protect tulips from deer

 Happy spring everyone! To my pleasant surprise, our test bed of tulips have managed to flower before being destroyed by deer. I have two tips on how you may be able to enjoy these beautiful flowers briefly before they are devoured. Tip one: Plant your tulip bulbs as close to your house as possible. Deer seem to be wary of getting too close to structures. Tip two: let your dog out at random times during the night to do their business. This will make any nearby deer very anxious so they will be more likely to steer clear of your place. We've already taken plenty of pictures of these impressive flowers because we know that any night they could disappear.

Sowing seeds for late winter and early spring

 Spring is almost upon us. This is the perfect time to sow a specific type of plant seed that enjoys a period of cold vernilization. The ones I'll be sowing are:

Poppies (of course)

Larkspur

Bachelor Buttons

Chamomile

Lupine

Snapdragons

Also sown was some Hulless Oats, Spring Barley and Orchard Grass to fill in any gaps in the overwintering Winter Wheat. Be sure to check back each week for updates on how all the plants are progressing.

Garlic can survive temperatures of -1 Fahrenheit with snow cover

 My test plot of garlic has not only survived the winter here in USDA growing zone 6b, but looks great. As a huge bonus, the deer seem to have no interest in them. The only downside is that the elephant garlic (actually a leek) didn't survive our coldest night of the whole winter of -1(F). This little plot of garlic was put in due to curiosity of if it would grow completely unprotected at the edge of our property. I'm happy to have found an edible crop that can stay in the ground during the winter and can even deter deer.

Daffodils are more deer resistant than Dutch Irises

First of all, happy March everyone! I went to check my flower bulbs today and found that my Dutch irises had been eaten to the ground. Of my 63 plants, only 3 of the irises did not have the tops eaten. Right next to the irises, the daffodils are perfectly fine. This was a hard lesson learned because I had high hopes for the Dutch irises to not be bothered by deer. A did get a nice little surprise while checking the bulbs though. There are a few orange crocuses coming up. When I bought a mixed bag of crocus bulbs, I was hoping there would be some orange flowered ones included and it looks like it worked out well for me. I'll make sure to get some pictures once they fully bloom.
 

Worst winter weather in 5 years finally ends

 Iceageddon is now officially over. For two weeks it was near impossible to work in the garden. The picture above shows the worst of it. Water from the roof flowing over frozen gutters refroze each night in front of our backdoor which meant I had to chisel the ice away just so we could let our dog out. We can finally get back to garden work just as soon as the ground dries a little more. The next job will be to work on the deer netting that the ice and snow pulled down.

Icy weather brings outdoor work and even nature to a standstill

 

Our area received just over a quarter inch of ice last week making work outside almost impossible. Even part of the local group of black vultures found the icy conditions challenging. As I type this, a mixture of snow and sleet are falling which will then be followed by frigid temperatures. The only positive I can think of with the accumulating precipitation is that it will give protection to the flowering bulbs from the extreme cold that will be arriving soon.