Gardening Question of the Week: Do Deer Eat Most Culinary Herbs?
Thursday July 24, 2008
Jjlifland asked the About Gardening Forum about deer and herbs: "I’m growing thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, lemon verbena, dill and sweet basil, are any or all of these at risk from deer?"
Well, the rosemary, lemon verbena and thymes should be safe. And although basil and dill are strongly scented, I have heard from gardeners who’ve had their basil nibbled, before the deer decided they didn’t want it after all. The only certainty with deer is that nothing is certain. Although there are plenty of deer resistant plant lists out there.
What’s been your experience with culinary herbs? Do the deer eat them or can you grow them without a fence?
Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images. Used with Permission.
Comments
When I lived in Denver, I used to wake up to mule deer peering in our windows on a regular basis, my plants in their mouths! The deer there ate EVERYTHING I planted until I tried herbs! Those mule deer even ate a young mugo pine that I planted - pulled it right up out of the ground! Almost all the herbs I planted were left alone - including the basil, sage, rosemary, chamomile, etc. I had great luck with other plants such as santolina (lavender cotton), some succulents such as ice plants and sedums, poppies, and a few others. This was on a very dry, sunny south slope along the side of the house (quite narrow & rocky).
That’s very good to hear. Come to think of it, even my ground hogs haven’t touched the herbs. I guess I’ll have to start incorporating more of them into the beds.
We incorporate herbs into all of our beds, including the raised vegetable beds. They not only encourage pollinators but they discourage the deer. We have more than our share of white-tail but they seem to not like the herbs, stay away from onions and garlic and don’t appear to like to walk across a heavily mulched (chunky wood chips) area. Now rabbits are a different story!
I grow herbs in containers on a patio outside my condo - basil, rosemary, sage, thyme, parsley, oregano and mint. So far the deer haven’t nibbled at any. Neither have the rabbits. Both are plentiful in this area. I previously grew herbs in raised beds and never had a problem with deer in those either.
We have lots of deer in SF east bay area - They leave the rosemary, lavender & thyme alone. They have eaten basil, oregano, chives, dill. I now grow these on an inaccessible deck. They are now nibbling on iris leaves & my redwood tree leaves.
Wow, the oregano too! I guess nothing is really safe. I don’t think I’d mind the iris leaves so much. They get kind of ugly toward the end of summer.