In the last few years deer lost their last vacant lot in the neighborhood and I had to experiment to see what I could keep in my garden. Our deer will leave basil and other herbs alone. They leave chrysanthemums, snapdragons, irises, daffodils, butterfly weed, melampodium, little firecracker zinnias and gomphrena alone, stepping over them to nibble on a remaining rose bush and lilies. Creeping phlox is safe, but garden phlox is a treat. In dry shade hellebores and euphorbia flourish. Cyclamen bloom in the fall and have ground covering foliage in the winter. Purple shamrocks are left alone. Dragon wing begonias bloom all summer. Liriope grows like crazy. As for shrubs, deer leave my azalea and my camelia alone, preferring "prune" the nearby knockout roses. They also ignore my striped zebra grass. My hollies were removed before the deer lost their habitat. Most of the deer repellant products have to be reapplied too often for Arkansas where we may get daily rains. You miss a day and your garden is gone. You might ask at local hair salons. I've heard that human hair is a better deterrent than dog hair. Yes, our deer laugh at the neighbor's mastiff. They even watch us watch them through our patio window.

Your bigger problem is going to be the deer. Pine needles used constantly for years as a mulch (as in under a pine tree) will only very slightly acidify soil, but as the needles break down, I believe they end up pretty much neutral - kind of like all composted plant material tends to be. I grow a lot of things under some slightly limbed up spruce in one of my gardens - hostas which deer will eat but tend to recover, "Dart's Gold" ninebark which is such a vigorous grower it can handle and outgrow nibbling. Ostrich ferns, actaea pachypoda alba, wild columbine, astilbe, bleeding hearts never get touched. On the outer edges with the most sun, I use an old variety of nepeta which has always been reliably safe along with my divided Stella d'Oro daylilies and some sedums - neither of which has been browsed so far this year. In the spring I've got an understory of scilla, muscari, puschkinia, and forget-me-nots - none of which any creature seems to bother. If you search the web for deer resistant plants, one of the first entries is the New Jersey Agr. Ext. service (NJAES). That has a big chart of plants, trees and shrubs and rates them as to rarely damaged, seldom severely damaged... Nothing is foolproof, however, given the variables of avaiability of natural food, what deer develop a taste for in any given area etc.

Dear All, thank you very much for your suggestions and tips for growing drought resistant/tolerant vegetables and varieties. I am busy in reading all your posts and simultaneously taking notes on the varieties to order. Its looks i not have all those varieties recommended expect couple of tomatoes. I am going to look at my seed stock filled in 3 big storage boxes before I place order. Jay, Thanks for your suggestion on NuMex chillies. I am going to order couple of varieties, by the way which is your best flavored chilly? I too often see that doughnut hole around our property in radar. I hope growing condition will turn better for this year. I love see my garden looks like jungle! Last year was really bad tomato year, but we have good harvest in the fall from fourth of july and sweet million. I will look for those new tomatoes you and Dwan suggested in seeds catalog and online. I am growing only dixondale this year but I love to hear back from you on your new and drought resistant onions. Thanks for all those points, I still feel a newbie when I read post here, so much to learn! I will keep experimenting with new varieties and note down good performer every year and tally those with climate, I guess may need many year to chose best for my garden... long way to go. Dawn, Wow that is awesome list to try! Growing less water drinking vegetable is to cut down water bill while not sacrificing yield. I also learned that water use efficient (less water drinking) vegetables and/or varieties have more flavor and taste and high nutrient that their counter parts which consume more water. This I also noticed last year with eggplants and chilli. Paula's Mild Jalapeno which was grown under less-frequent-watered-bed has stronger flavor than one that grown in bed which received more water. I try short DTMs and start as early as possible. This is already pushing to start my starts this weekend. I need go thorough each and every variety your suggested. By the way, I have not much success with broccoli and cabbage in the last years. But I am trying again this year with some row cover to check my luck. I will check Willhite and SESE. Yep that is true, most herbs did pretty well last year. Fowler Bush Bean sounds good. Dawn, you are right, I almost forgotten about the wind and hail tolerant variates, you know how much garden trashed by wind and hail last year. Carol and Dorothy, Thank you, I am envy on your rainfall pattern. Even thought you may not be growing drought tolerant varieties, but you always very nice trips and tricks to deal with problems. Dorothy, I am glad to know new salad mix of violets, burnet and swisschard. Carol,I know guys love eggplants, I bought few new types of eggplants from India, please let me know if you want some seeds or I will grow few extra plants for you and share with you later. All these are Indian types (drought resistant), but not sure how they will do here in OK. George, I will try you Fowler Bush Bean as well as Woody Mountain Crazy Bean. How is their flavor of these beans in comparison to blue lake? Yes yard long are must to grow, we had great harvest last year with out much care or watering. Any good recommendation on yard long bean with respect to flavor and production? I glad to know you are belong to SSE We love yard long beans, Priya makes curry and subji with very tender long beans and they also great for still fry. By the way, is there any difference between yard long and asparagus been? By the we not have any problem with large animals but bugs, the only two bugs I am afraid of with are squash bugs and borers. Seedmama, Thanks for offer, if you have extra, I love to have some. Hmm Bean called "Tepary"? you know the meaning my village local slang for "Rough and Tough" Lets grow that one as well. Thanks again for all these wonderful suggestion tips. Cheers -Chandra

I live in Puget Sound also - have you thought about ceanothus? They do well in my yard in Kitsap County because the soil drains so well. They are drought tolerant and some varieties get very large. They are on deer resistant lists but I am not sure deer read those lists ...