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I have a open part of yard last year the deer came in and ate my pumpkins.

I think of planting a wall of lavender will they jump it or eat it?
I read they don't like the oils on there skin. I would be starting the lavender from seeds.

Hello ericmgilson. Welcome to the forum. Lavender is deer resistant. But
they will eat anything if they are hungry enough. I would go for the lavender.
Good luck and take care.

Deer don't like lavender and won't eat it. Whether or not they will jump it, depends on how wide your hedge is and how attractive the stuff on the other side is.

Plant your lavender seed NOW! It is slow to sprout and slow to grow. You will be doing well to have a 1 foot high lavender plant by the end of the season.

Start the lavender inside or out?
any tips?

Or forum links?

In that area I put my pumpkins the deer just came right in and ate them.
I did 10 or so mounds.
I wonder if I put string up and tied shiny metal ribbions along it if the deer wont try to cross it.

You will need 2 strings placed about 3 feet apart. Deer can jump high, but not all that wide. Their depth perception isn't very good.

Another option is to put up deer fencing. It's inexpensive, and works well. It's plastic, and you can buy it in rolls at most hardware/home improvement stores. Walmart might even have it.

Yeah doing a fence was the last thing I wanted to do.
Ill look around at what I can afford.
I do have fruit trees and don't want the deer to kill them.

I can get the string and ribbon the cheapest ill try it first.
Then try something bigger if it doesn't.
The string can be taken down easy.

What if I did a wire grid over the pumpkins like 2 square foot grids.
Are deer good at walking threw stuff?

I could ask the barber shop for human hair. Idk if that works.

I've heard they don't much care to walk on chicken wire laid on the surface of the ground, because they feel like their feet will get stuck. I'm not sure that actually works, though. I think it's thought to work along the lines of the cattle guards you sometimes see across roads. If you try it, you'll have to make sure the wire never gets covered by anything, such as leaves or loose earth. Another problem would be plants such as grass growing up through the mesh. It would be difficult to lift the wire to remove the grass. That I can attest to from personal experience.

The deer won't be deterred by shiny tape or anything of a similar nature that you put out. Like any other creature, they become accustomed to their surroundings, and once they're used to seeing the tape, it will just become part of the background, so to speak.

Some people have success with human hair, but many others don't. As I said, the deer become used to whatever they see/smell/hear on a routine basis, and it all just becomes a natural part of the environment to them.

Like it or not, fencing of some sort will be your best bet ... or a territorial dog. The latter is more effective than anything else, but if you have close neighbors, you probably couldn't leave the dog out overnight, which is when the deer would be most active. There are commercial products you can buy, but they have to be reapplied frequently.

Some of my friends have been able to keep the deer out of their gardens by planting a "deer garden" on the deer trail. The deer get to it well before they reach the homeowner's plants, and are able to satisfy their appetites. Deer gardens don't require any weeding or much other care. You just plant the seeds or starts and let them grow wild.

"Caging" your pumpkins would be difficult, I think. You would have to cage the entire plant, not just the individual fruits, and pumpkin plants can grow quite large. If you didn't cage the entire plant, the deer would just eat the leaves and stems, and there would be no photosynthesis to support the fruit.

[img]https://i1268.photobucket.com/albums/jj565/ericmgilson/2012-02-06_17-17-30_511.jpg[/img]
This is what I have the post are 3 feet apart
Idk if it will work but ill do 3 lines on each post.

Greetings Gnome, You're in the foothills on the California side. not a great distance form our mountain ranch, we're at about 6800ft near Tahoe, as we speak we're in the high desert with the herd. Just wanted to say "Hi."

We use electric fences for all outside animals, that seems to work well.

Richard

Do not use coyote urine to deter deer or bunnies if young children are around . Our neighbor used it, and he had young children. My husband and I were sitting out in our backyard one day and suddenly felt "watched" There was a brindle Alpha male coyote standing a few yards behind us. Urine says there are more coyotes in the area and can attract them. He was larger than a german shepard. I would be concerned if I had very young children in the neighborhood. Coyotes hunt in packs also. I was going down the deck stairs to chase a yellow female in the yard one day, and then 3 more grown females came around from our garage side. I quickly went back up the stairs! We told the neighbor and he stopped using urine.