THEY may look cute and cuddly, but muntjac deer are the bane of many gardeners’ lives, mine included.

Over the years in my garden the natives of south-east Asia have stripped rose bushes of buds, chewed their way through shrubs and perennials and made divots in my lawn with their hooves.

A new Government survey asking people to record sightings of foreign invaders – including the muntjac – in a bid to control their population, may have come too late for many gardeners with already- ruined plots.

The Royal Horticultural Society now receives almost as many inquiries about deer as it does about rabbits, another prime garden pest, and while there are a number of deterrents on the market, the only one guaranteed to work long term is a 6ft fence around your garden.

Only red and roe deer are native.

There are also fallow, sika, muntjac and Chinese water deer. However, fallow, roe and muntjac deer are the species most likely to be encountered across the UK.

Both muntjac and roe are territorial and their numbers have spread in urban gardens due to a reduction in their own natural habitat and the steady rise in their population.

David Kenyon, of the British Deer Society, said: “The problem with muntjac is that they are fairly indiscriminate as to what they will eat in your garden.

They will go for anything, while roe deer are browsers who will eat your roses first and then work down the chain. They are more selective.”

Muntjac may be the smallest deer in the UK, but they can do a lot of damage.

“If you see one-inch slots (hoof marks) in the lawn, a deer may have been there digging up the lawn to get to the more nutritious roots underneath,”

Kenyon adds.

No-one knows exactly how many deer there are in the UK but the Deer Society estimates it could be about 1.5 million – equivalent to one deer in every 10 square kilometres.

They will gobble up rare orchids and do untold damage to new shoots in woodland, destroying both young trees and beautiful forest flowers such as bluebells.

Males (bucks) will rub the bark from the main stem and leave it hanging in tatters.

Males whipping woody plants and low branches with their antlers cause thrashing damage.

If shoots and stems are bitten through, leaving a clean mark on one side and a ragged edge on the other – a result of their lack of incisors on the upper jaw – it’s likely to be deer. Rodents leave sharp tooth marks on both sides.

Look for tracks to confirm or to trace entry points.

There are no plants that muntjac won’t touch, although there are some they like least, said Mr Kenyon.

They’re not so keen on camellia, cistus, hellebore, hosta, hydrangea, lavender, poppies and sedum, while they do like geraniums, sweet Williams, clematis and, of course, roses. But if they’re starving they’ll eat anything.

If you want to preserve the balance of nature, you could grow alternative food for the deer, allowing an area at the end of your garden to be devoted to brambles, rowan, dandelion, campion and yarrow. Hopefully the deer will prefer these to your favourite roses.

Damage is most common on new, succulent spring growth or in winter when other food sources are scarce.

There are a number of deterrents on the market. You could try scare tactics by having a motion detector attached to a sprinkler or by planting strong-smelling plants. However, these options have only limited success rates.

“There are lots of so-called deterrents such as human hair, lion dung and gentlemen’s urine, which may work for a day but not for much longer. Scarecrows only work short-term because the deer become used to them,” said Mr Kenyon.

People are also advised to not set their dogs on the muntjacs in a bid to frighten them away as the family pet could come off worse if it corners a buck with five-inch antlers.

Mr Kenyon said: “It is difficult for the domestic gardener to live alongside wild deer. If you live in the countryside it might be possible but if you have a small garden and they get used to you, they will become brave enough to nip off your pot roses outside your back door.”

The sooner you get that fence up, the better.

● For more information visit the British Deer Society at www.bds.org.uk.

CHIVES always give you a double whammy: Beautiful, purple minilollipop flowers on thin, flavoursome stems. I’d grow these pretty perennials even if I didn’t use them for eating.

They serve as an attractive edging for beds, brighten up the vegetable garden in early summer and are easy to grow in well-drained soil with added organic matter. Also, you can propagate them easily, dividing clumps in spring or at the end of summer with a fork and replanting them in the soil.

Plant your pot-grown clumps in late spring or summer and water them in and weed when necessary. When the leaves are long enough to cut they can be harvested.

The onion-flavoured leaves can be used in salads and dips. Take a few stalks from each clump to ensure the plant still has plenty of flowers on it and its appearance isn’t hampered. The main variety is Allium schoenoprasum, but there are also white chives (A. schoenoprasum White Form) and garlic chives, which have a slight garlic flavour.