Irish Spring Deer Repellent

Because we live five minutes from a county park, I have a real problem with deer getting in my flower bed. They have acres and acres of every bush imaginable to munch on and yet they'll climb down a steep embankment at the back of our yard to get to my flowers. Grrrr...

I tried this at $12 a bottle...

and and it worked okay but you have to reapply after every rain so it was getting to be expensive.

Then I found a homemade recipe which was basically the same thing.
Chopped garlic - $1.00
crushed red pepper - $1.00
 water
I was able to get the items inexpensively at the dollar store which was a bonus.
 I put the mixture in a large glass jug with a lid and sat it out in the sun. The longer it sits the more potent it is! After couple days, I poured the liquid through a fine strainer and put the liquid in a spray bottle. Even though this was a cheaper alternative, I still had to constantly reapply it.

Then a friend told me about Irish Spring soap. You just cut the bars into fourths and skewer each piece onto dowel rods. I had my husband to drill some holes into the soap so that it wouldn't crack, and it worked nicely. ( the dowel rods I got were 3/8 inch diameter and I got three 12 inch pieces out of each rod.)

They look like green lollipops!!

It's been six weeks now and it appears to be working.

Cheap, easy and an extra bonus is even with plenty of rain here, it takes a long time to melt!

Here's a tip:
To keep your gardening tools sharp, store them in a old bucket, filled with sand and some motor oil. I did this last winter and now my tools are rust free and well oiled!

Here's where I'll be sharing:

Nifty Thrifty Sunday * Sundays at Home * Amaze Me Monday * Mix it up Monday * Make it Pretty Monday * Cooking and Crafting with J and J *  Busy Monday * Keep it simple Monday * You're gonna love it Tuesday * Tasty Tuesday * Delicious Dishes * Inspire me Tuesday * Talk of the Town  * Thrifty and Vintage Finds *Moonlight and Mason Jars * Before and After Wednesday *the Alder Collective * You Link it, We Make it * What's Cookin' Wednesday * Wordless Wednesday * Create it Thursday * Creatively crafty *  Full plate Thursday * Throwback Thursday * The Handmade Hangout * The Pin Junkie * Anything blue Friday * Friday Finds * Photo Friday * Friday Features * Floral Friday Fotos  * What To Do Weekends * Happiness is Homemade * Saturday Sparks *