04/28/2026
NEED ADVICE from fellow Cundy's Harbor gardeners!!
🍅🦌🌱☀️
Background: The two raised beds outside of the store are an official University of Maine Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Project! Master Gardeners are trained volunteers who combat food insecurity across our state. Our modest little beds will (hopefully) grow tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers for our community!
NEED OPINIONS!! Last season, every night I put up deer fencing (you can see it lying in the bed in the picture)...and every day the store was open, I took it down. It's very ugly and clumsy (and kinda sharp ouch!). Basically, I have big wooden stakes woven through plastic fencing that I stick into the beds' soil. It was a very annoying task!!! (To quote one of my greatest customers, Jay, "I'm not complaining, I'm observing." 😂)
I did not see any evidence of deer. I have not personally seen deer in the store parking lot or at the wharf, but have seen tracks across Cundy's Harbor Rd, just up the street.
So gardeners... do we think deer are going to be a problem? Should I take the risk and ditch the fence? I acknowledge it is NOT fun taking the fence up and down... but I think it'd be even worse to come in for the day to a decimated garden. But I am willing to take the risk...I think?
What does everyone think? Any other ideas?
PS: Last year was a doozy of a growing season. We all remember the 12 consecutive weekends of rain followed by an epic drought (that we're still in!!). Hopefully, this year will go better!
Thank you for your help!
💚 Liza
