I don’t count, but years ago, there must have been a hundred or more hostas in the garden. They were simple as long as I planted out of the afternoon sun. And then came the deer.

I suppose they were always here, but as nearby forests and fields turned to houses, I began to see a hosta munched here and then there. What will it hurt? But then, a few were eaten to the ground, and more than a few didn’t come back the next spring.

Barbara, who spends little time working in the garden except to ruthlessly chop back any plant that strays over the paths, announced that if I continued to allow the deer to ruin the garden she was buying a gun to take care of the problem herself. Bad idea.

So, I began to spray a repellent. Very regularly at first. The last weekend of each month from March through November, I sprayed without fail. And then I got lazy. Again.

At first, I alternated two repellents, one with an unpleasant scent and the other with a sweet wintergreen smell. Both worked wonderfully, but, as always, I needed to simplify the process. So, I switched to a single repellent (Bobbex). I expect other repellent brands will work equally well. Occasionally, I’ll mix in a small amount of a hot pepper squirrel repellent (which I don’t use for squirrels) to vary the scent.

My problem is the timing. When I discarded the end of month ritual, I stretched to see how many additional weeks I could get from an application. High amounts of rainfall didn’t seem to matter, and sometimes, I could get six weeks between sprays, but less when plants are actively growing.

Since my calendar was gone and my recollection is often faulty, I depended on regular garden strolls to alert me at the first sign of deer nibbling a leaf. Fortunately, there’s one plain old green hosta that serves as the indicator plant. I see a munched leaf of this deer favorite, then spray.

With more plants in this acre and a quarter garden than I care to count, spraying takes about fifteen minutes. Not all plants need to be sprayed, and I must often make a calculated guess if a new plant must be sprayed. If it’s small (or expensive), I’ll err by spraying until a plant is large enough to tolerate a few nibbles.

This routine has successfully enabled me to plant anything I want, and I want a lot. The collection of hostas is not back to where it was, but I don’t hesitate if I see one I like. And, I add other deer favorites without hesitation.

Deer are still here. I see tracks every day, and often we see one or a few wandering through the garden, leisurely sniffing here and there and sometimes taking a test bite. If I bypass spraying a deer favorite, they’ll quickly find it. So, the repellent has allowed me to fully enjoy the garden, to plant whatever I want with only a small amount of effort to protect plants.