Deer Resistant Vegetables

Deer will eat anything if they are starving, but planting a garden full of vegetables they don't like to eat puts you on the right track for avoiding damage.  Even lining the outside of your garden with these can help keep the deer from entering the garden to eat other plants.  

Deer resistant vegetables? A deer proof garden?  Is it possible to have such a thing? If you want to grow vegetables, herbs, and fruits anywhere except the most urban location, you will have to learn how to control deer. Deer management is multi-faceted and depending on the size of your garden, the type of food grown, type and number of deer in the area, and other variables, you will have to use at least one or two of these methods of control.

It is hard to find Deer Resistant Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs since they are a prize food source and full of the nutrients that deer need to be healthy.  After the deer have gotten into your garden and tasted the feast you have prepared, it will be very hard to exclude them.  Start with these deer resistant vegetables, and herbs and then you will have to decide on a strategy of fencing, repellent, or a scare device such as the water shooting Scarcrow.  For fruit, you may have to consider an odor type repellent or temporary netting.

There are several vegetables that deer tend to avoid eating, these include:

• Alliums, such as onions, leeks, and garlic
• Arugula
• Asian greens, such as bok choy and tatsoi
• Beans, both pole and bush varieties
• Beets
• Chard
• Collards
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Fennel
• Hot peppers
• Melons
• Okra
• Parsley
• Parsnips
• Peas, both snap and snow varieties
• Radicchio
• Radishes
• Rutabaga
• Sorrel
• Spinach
• Squash, both summer and winter varieties
• Tomatoes
• Turnips

It is worth noting that deer may still eat these vegetables if they are hungry enough or if other food sources are scarce. To prevent damage, it's best to implement a deer-proof barrier, such as a fence, around your garden.

Cucumbers have been shown to actually repel deer.  Many people have sent messages saying they plant cucumbers where deer are most likely to come in.  They plant them in pots and on trellises to keep them out of areas in lawns.