Deer Resistant Vegetables and Herbs
A Gardener's Guide
A deer bypasses a tomato plant to look for more palatable fare.
Certain plants, such as rhubarb, are toxic to deer. Deer usually also avoid root vegetables (which require digging) and prickly vegetables such as cucumbers and squashes with hairy leaves. Sharply-odored cultivars like onions, garlic and fennel are not palatable to deer. Similarly, strongly-scented marigolds and herbs can direct deer away from favored munching plants.
Please regard the following list of deer-resistant garden plants as a general guide. Hungry deer are unpredictable and at times may eat even the most “deer-resistant” fare!
Deer-Resistant Garden Plants
Except in areas of high deer pressure, deer will usually bypass these garden vegetables and herbs.
Tomatoes
Carrots
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Fennel
Garlic
Globe Artichokes
Leeks
Peppers
Rhubarb
Tomatoes
Onions
Chives
Dill
Lavender
Lemon Balm
Mint
Parsley
Rosemary
Sage
Tarragon
Thyme
Lavender
Sage
Parsley
Moderately Deer-Resistant
These plants are moderately safe, however, deer may turn to this group of veggies and herbs when favorites are not available. Take care to protect the young shoots, which are always tender and delicious!
Rainbow chard with deer damage. Chard is most vulnerable to browsing deer in the fall and spring when other food is not available.
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Chard (safest in summer when the deer have other food choices)
Corn
Kale
Melons
Potatoes (reports of deer eating “toxic” potato leaves are becoming common)
Rutabagas
Summer Squash
Winter Squash
Basil
Basil
Cilantro
Deer Favorites
Deer love to munch on peas and beans. The also enjoy tree fruit and most berries. If you’re looking to attract deer to your garden, try planting some of these:
Pea shoots are a favorite meal for deer.
Beans
Berries (most kinds)
Lettuce & Leafy Greens (although red lettuces appear to be less palatable to deer)
Peas
Pears
Plums
Strawberries
If planting resistant vegetables does not deter deer from your garden, you may need to consider more serious deer defenses such as barriers and fencing. Whatever you plant or whatever measures you take, one thing is certain, the struggle between determined gardeners and determined browsing deer will continue!
More articles:
Deer Defenses: Low-Cost Ways to Deer Proof Your Garden
Get to Know the Good Bugs: Attract Beneficial Insects to Your Garden
What Weeds Can Tell Us About the Soil
I find this article interesting but not particularly useful, or in my experience, accurate. Last year I had more beans than I knew how to use, but no tomatoes because the deer ate everything but the stems of the tomato plants and left the beans, of which I had planted extra in anticipation of losing some to the critters, untouched.
Although I don’t plant beans, I have a small garden with tomatoes. The deer were knocking down my “deer fence” to get at my plants. I now have an electric fence around my 5×8 garden! If the plants grow above the fence, and deer are able to get at the tomatoes they will indulge!
Where I live, Eugene, the South Hills deer have a reputation for not reading these kinds of lists. They seem willing to try everything. Fencing is the way to go down here. With that said, my neighborhood deer avoid the lavender, mint, rosemary and thyme. They also go after figs. That’s very strange. I hadn’t considered putting squash out. I may have to give that a try.
Our deer don’t read these lists either (I live in the mid Willamette Valley). As a gardener of many years, I can tell you that our deer eat cucumbers, squash, and tomato plants without fail. We’ve had to build 2×4 wood and wire cages around every one of our raised beds (and we have used motion activated ‘deer sprinklers’ in the yard as well). They will also eat many of the ‘deer resistant’ varieties of flowers, including daylilies.
Although planting resistant varieties may help to some extent, sooner or later deer will eat whatever they want to eat.
Here in southwestern ohio, deer like to eat beans and tomatoes (plants and tomatoes). They have not bothered asparagus.
Here in rural Piedmont NC deer do not eat my peppers, mustard, kale, broccoli rape, onions, garlic, most herbs. They may nibble but don’t eat it after finding it not to their taste. They ate tomatoes, squash, okra, cucumbers…well, something ate it but it could have been bunnies!
I have been fairly lucky with deer in Illinois. They are over populated, but usually they only bother my herbs and beans. I have a nasty woodchuck that likes to destroy my strawberries, melons, peppers, tomatoes, and just about anything else he can get his paws on though. For me, deer and woodchucks have been more problematic in my rain garden. It has perennial flowers that are “deer and woodchuck resistant”, but I don’t think they are aware of that. On multiple occasions I will go to bed only to find out the next day that these furry critters had a gourmet buffet on my flower tops and vegetables. Definitely annoying, but I am going all out to try deterring them this summer.
I don’t think the Founding Fathers tolerated deer and other varmints in their gardens.
I wonder what they did to them?
Oh yeah, now I remember-
They shot and ate them!
This comment made me smile! We live smack dab in the city in Northern Ohio and for the first time ever, we now have deer. I sought out this article to see what others have done successfully. Time will tell. I have tried unsuccessfully to have my neighbor and brother set up their deer blinds in my driveway – so close to home and I could provide them coffee while they wait.
I only planted potatoes last year but have a number of other plants that were consistently devoured and I finally resorted to a natural, but FOUL smelling spray which works. The potatoes did not pick up the smell. The plants grew like crazy but the deer only ate the flowers off the top. The problem with the spray in the Northwest is that it is supposed to be applied when the plants are DRY and will remain so for at least a day or so, which is rare, except for during the summer.