For the past three years, I hesitated to plant a vegetable garden, fearing the damage that deer could possibly do. But when I spoke with David at The Farm about the many steps you can take to keep those deer from munching on your leafy greens, I got confident. My dreams of serving tomato salad, bruschetta and zucchini fritters – garden-fresh — at my summertime parties were alive and well.

After stocking up on our plants, soil and Bumper Crop at The Farm, we headed inside to load our trolley with an arsenal of deer-deferring items. I have to admit, I wasn’t too confident in the deer netting. Couldn’t a buck just push his way through? Didn’t we need wrought iron fencing? Wisely ignoring my worries, my husband grabbed the roll of 6’ high netting, the garden stakes and a couple of bottles of repellants, and home we went to put in our raised bed vegetable garden.

With our raised bed put together at 4’ x 4’ for starters – we can add on later – my husband rolled out what looked like a black cotton tarp to keep any grass or weeds from growing up through our little garden bed. Together, we dumped and spread our bags of soil, and I sat down to write out Zucchini, Red Bell Peppers, Beefsteak Tomatoes, Spinach, Cilantro and other plantings on the cute white garden tags we also picked up. I slid out my plants, placed them tallest to shortest in the bed, stepped back and beamed, and in a short while, our garden was fully planted and ID’d.

Up went the stakes and the netting [which my husband staked a good three feet distance from the edges of the bed to prevent a deer from nudging and noshing,] and the first perimeter spray of Deer Off and Critter Off was our scented fortress security. I apply them every night, and watched with great glee when our lawn invaders step gingerly up to the garden, take a whiff, and turn away. It’s working.

Now I’m not saying that there’s no way any deer or chipmunks will attack your garden if you follow our three-step plan; a hungry animal will find a way to dine. But I am saying that it’s working for us. I spray every night, and every morning, I get to see my tomato plants grow taller, with telltale flowers starting to sprout. I’m going to serve bruschetta this summer. I’ve got my dream garden, and the deer aren’t invited to sample.

Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 books on family celebrations, including weddings, bridal showers, vow renewals, and more. She is beyond thrilled to be the new guest blogger for The Farm, and she will be posting inspirations and tips for your parties, get-togethers and big family moments throughout the year. Visit her website www.sharonnaylor.net for more on her books and articles.

I admit, I love seeing deer tracks in the snow on my property, and I love coming home at dusk and seeing a buck standing protectively by his doe on my front lawn. My romance with the New Jersey deer population does dim, however, when we experience deer damage. Before we stocked up on organic pest control supplies in The Farm’s natural pest control aisle, we saw our valuable Japanese maple trees’ red bark stripped from the trunk, our saplings munched on.

While we were able to use a natural pest deterrent in the form of an organic wrap around the base of our Japanese maple, it may be too late for our tree. We’re not sure if its bright red color is going to come back. So no way are we going to risk any more of our valuable garden trees and organic trees, especially now in the harsh New Jersey winter when the local deer population is hungry and needs to eat to survive.

Now is the time to stock up on organic pest deterrents and natural pest controls proven to keep deer away from your garden plantings. We especially like the scent of organic repellants made from essential oils and proven to be non-toxic to pets and people. We don’t have a dog yet, but we are looking around here in our Morristown area and in surrounding Northern New Jersey towns, and when we do get our new pet, we want him or her to be safe on a lawn and by trees and plants treated with organic pest sprays, wraps and natural pest controls from The Farm.

Speaking of our lawn, when we first moved into our home a few years ago, the previous owner had encircled her front rock garden with a tall metal mesh fence to keep the deer away. It was rusted and ugly and the deer were clearly just reaching over it to snack on the evergreens she couldn’t reach herself to properly maintain. So we spoke with The Farm’s smart staff about what to plant in that now-unfenced circle, and we found out that begonias are candy to deer. Some plants I loved were clearly on the NJ deer damage hotlist, so we stocked up on all-natural netting, screens and attractive perimeter barriers at The Farm, which didn’t just protect us from deer damage but also, impressively, matched and complimented our garden décor.

No more deer damage here, since we established our organic pest control campaign that’s also kept the neighbors’ dogs from using the front of our lawn and our front organic garden sections, as well.

Sharon Naylor is the author of over 35 books on family celebrations, including weddings, bridal showers, vow renewals, and more. She is beyond thrilled to be the new guest blogger for The Farm, and she will be posting inspirations and tips for your parties, get-togethers and big family moments throughout the year. Visit her website www.sharonnaylor.net for more on her books and articles.