It’s so nice to sit at the table or in my chair and look out at the deer but it’s not so nice to realize the deer are sitting in their comfy places watching my peach and pear trees . . just waiting for a yummy snack.
Fruit Trees
When we first moved here . . we didn’t have a clue what we were doing (not that we do now either!) but we planted 6 fruit trees in front of the house. I think we were thinking maybe a bit of shade some day. There are 4 pear trees (none of which bloomed this year) one sour cherry and one pomegranate. I don’t think the deer will bother the sour cherry, plus it will probably never produce, and I doubt they bother the pomegranate. So, those trees should be safe at least for another year. Once the pear trees start producing, we’ll have to come up with some kind of cage to put around them to keep the deer away.
We also planted 4 trees on the side of the house.
Fruit Trees
Three of these are the peach trees that are loaded and we don’t want the deer getting all of the peaches so Vince put fences around them yesterday. We’re probably still going to have issues with raccoons and possums but we know what to do about that . . I hope.
Fruit Trees
The rest of the fruit trees are inside the high fence and that should keep the deer out.
We have planted 56 fruit trees . . or should I say . . we have 56 fruit trees that are alive. We lost a few but considering the harsh summers and crazy winters, I think we’ve done quite well.
My favorite tree . . and some of you will remember how hard I worked to get this little rascal. I wouldn’t have it except a blog reader located it in California and the guy sold me one little bare root cutting.
Jujube
Is that not an evil looking little tree? It was so late budding, I feared it was dead. Vince kept saying “But wasn’t it the last one to bud out last year?” I couldn’t remember but I didn’t want it to be dead. It would be close to impossible to find another Jujube tree. I wish I could easily find half a dozen more.
Supposedly it’s drought tolerant and deer resistant. I wonder why . . look at these thorns!
Jujube Thorns
If I were a deer, I think I’d walk right past that thorny tree.
So far, the past two years, each year, it’s produced three jujubes. Maybe it will produce more this year, and maybe at some point in the future I’ll be able to find more trees.
SaraF says
Your fruit trees look well protected now with the little fences. We had to wrap some young trees with protective paper during the winter because the deer were causing a lot of damage. But they never bother them once the grass turns green so we can take the paper off.
We live near the edge of a town of about 15,000 and we have a LOT of deer in our yard every day. I also love sitting and watching them. However, they clean out our bird feeders every night unless we bring the feeders onto our deck for the night. And they have nibbled away at some of our landscaping plants every year. We tried some “deer repellent” that looked like moth balls and those are sprinkled around the plants. Seems to have helped a lot. But I guess the bird feeders hang too high for the smell of those little balls to discourage them.
Sherrill says
What do you do to keep the raccoons and possums away? That jujube looks almost as bad as a mesquite with the thorns. Did you tell the guy you got the jujube to send more when he got them or was he not getting anymore?
Linda in NE says
Shoot them probably.
dottie bishaw says
Judy try Bob Wells Nursery. I live in Crowley,Tx and I have ordered from him before, and got healthy trees. His nursery is on the other side of Dallas. bobwellsnursery.com
JudyL says
They do have them but they’re WAY expensive. As bad as I want them, I’m not paying that price.
Joyce says
The deer sure can be pests. I don’t blame you with putting up high fences. I have to cover my raspberries to keep the birds out. Otherwise I wouldn’t get any at all. I will have to start covering the blueberries in a couple of years too. (when they start producing enough to matter.)
Melissa says
Judy!
There’s a website…treesofantiquity.com. They have jujubes. I haven’t ordered from there yet but they have some interesting choices of fruit trees. It might be worth a look
JudyL says
Thanks. I’ll check it out today.
JudyL says
Just looked and they don’t have the varieties we want (Honey Pot and Sugar Cane) but I’ve bookmarked it and will check back earlier next year. Thanks!
Terri says
I’ve heard that Rosemary planted around your garden will keep deer away. I haven’t had the problem, so I haven’t tested it.
Hugs
JudyL says
Here, the deer don’t eat the Rosemary but they will walk right past it or jump over it to get to what they want.
kwiltnkats says
Got the blue bird feeder for my parents in Maryland. Hope they have similar results with blue eggs! Fingers crossed, they weren’t excited about the frozen worms!!!