We've lived dangerously this spring in the garden. Not having seen as much deer activity as usual, we left caution in the potting shed and allowed our vegetable garden to grow at its peril.
Last week, of course, we paid the price. A big chunk of my wife's pea crop was devoured. Unlike other years, though, we didn't panic --because we knew we had a reliable weapon right inside that shed. We popped it out, put in a fresh battery, and can now sleep soundly at night again.
The next issue of the magazine, at the printer at the moment and due in your mailbox by mid July, will have more about our secret weapon. But for anyone else having deer issues right now, I wanted to let you know.
Known as the ScareCrow sprinkler, the secret to the device is a motion sensor that can scan an area about 50 feet out from the sprinkler in a span of about 100 degrees, or about 20 feet in each direction. When the motion sensor "sees" a critter, a pulsating sprinkler head shoots water across the entire area. Sounding a bit like a loud rattlesnake, the ScareCrow reliably kept my unfenced garden free of deer and groundhogs all last season. If the sound doesn't frighten away the animals -- like our neighbor's cat, for example -- it annoys them with the heavy stream of water.
The only disclaimer to make is that the device takes some getting used to, both day and night. The motion sensor tends to see everything, including small birds that land on the tops of bean poles, so the ScareCrow goes off frequently and -- for the first few nights last year that we turned it on -- made us jump out of bed to look for deer each time it went off. It also senses motion 24 hours a day, so if you venture into the garden and forget the device is in place, you're going to get really wet.
All you need to activate the ScareCrow is a battery and a charged water hose. Purchase a good, quality hose that can withstand being in the sun all summer long. Make sure your hose couplings are tight so that no water is wasted from leaking.
After that, you should eventually be able to sleep tight knowing your plants are protected.
If you type "ScareCrow sprinkler" into Google, you'll find all sorts of companies selling the product.
CHECK OUT the numerous resources for education, such as www.melna.org or www.rodaleinstitute.org . For video tips specific to organic lawn care, you can now visit www.safelawns.org.
-Paul Tukey: June 21, 2006.
