Deer depredation is becoming a big problem in many of our community gardens. Believe it or not, the white-tailed deer population for Missouri in 1925 was reported to be 400 animals. Recent estimates by the Missouri Department of Conservation put the current population at about 1.4 million. It’s not surprising that they are finding their way into our gardens in search of food!

The best deterrent for protecting gardens is deer fencing. Unfortunately, installing fencing is an expensive and laborious procedure that must be approved by the property owner and only one of the many gardens that we help (Claudell) is owned by the Community Garden Coalition.

We were successful in obtaining some funding through three grant proposals. In 2023, the Veterans United Foundation gave us $5,000 and two local Walmarts gave us $2,000 to use towards the installation of deer fencing. This was enough to begin fencing some of the gardens where we were receiving the most complaints. Cheryl Jensen and Eric Lorenz, the garden leaders at two city-owned gardens, Unite4Health and Britt-Hall, teamed up to determine the best materials and methods to protect those gardens. At Britt-Hall, Eric, with some help from Cheryl, installed all the fencing and made a lovely gate (see photo).

Unfortunately, installation at Unite4Health was much more difficult because underneath the garden is part of the old Nowell’s grocery store parking lot! Things were looking grim for digging post holes until ForColumbia, a volunteer service group organized by several of Mid-Missouri’s christian churches under the leadership of Shelly Mayer (The Crossing), contacted us to see if there were any garden projects that they could volunteer for. When Cheryl contacted her and explained the situation, Shelly was not deterred. She met with us and brought along two of the most wonderful and determined lead volunteers, J.P. Watson and Tim Leibovich. J.P. and Tim worked for several days drilling anchor holes with a commercial auger so the posts could be secured in the hard subsurface.

Finally, on April 27, a large crew of hardworking, caring people arrived to install the fencing and repair raised beds. It was a nice day, and, due to the wonderful planning of J.P., Tim, and Cheryl, everything went smoothly. By the time they left, Unite4Health was fenced in — much to the chagrin of the local deer population! On top of all of this, ForColumbia paid for many additional expenses.

We are so thankful for the help of ForColumbia, the Veterans United Foundation and Walmart! Now, gardeners at these two gardens are able to grow more healthful produce, and they only have to share it with family and friends!