I can't wait for hunting season so I can collect the debt the deer owe me. I'll be smiling when I have my venison in the freezer. I have three apple trees in my garden. Our Battelford tree is old and has been dying slowly over the past few years. Last season we had one five gallon pail full of apples. This may be the last year for the tree. Not many branches left and they are not looking good. We might have had half a pail full of apples, perhaps a few more. Our two Goodland apple trees are still young. Last year we had 17 apples. We had a couple of Goodland apple trees at our last residence, and the last year we lived there (22 years ago) we harvested 350 pounds of apples.Some were 3 1/2 inches in diameter. The apples didn't last long, but they tasted delicious and they made wonderful pies and cakes. So I was looking forward to a nice crop this year.
No more!
Today I discovered that the deer ate all the small apples from all three trees. I counted 5 apples on the higher branches, and they might not make it.
I pulled a fishing line around my garden and hung empty drink cans from the line. The deer can't see the fishing line and when they hit it the cans will jingle, hopefully scaring the deer away. I also set up a trail camera, but so far the only thing I've got on the video is myself walking around and staring at the camera. This means the deer haven't come back. I can only hope they have moved on.
At last check, the beets and the Swiss Chard plants are slowly coming back. Not all will be lost. The deer ate the tops of the tomato plants, but otherwise the tomato plants are fine. And the peppers will grow new flowers and we should still get enough peppers. Unfortunately, they ate most of the cucumber plants and they won't come back. The damage was too severe.
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