One other thing, and I didn't see it in the helpful list from kimmsr, is that if anything touching the ground touches any hot wires, that will short out the whole fence. So if you have a low hot wire, and the grass grows over it, the fence will probably be shorted out. Other: Now I'll tell one more long winded story. When we first bought this house, the previous owner had a very rustic fence in the same place as the photo above. The posts were just red cedar logs from small trees he cut down. The fence was 4' high, with the wire you can get in rolls from the Box Stores. On top he had put the two tensile lines like I have. The electric fence was there for several years before we moved in. No animals went over that fence. The garden had good annual yields of whatever you planted. A few years after we moved in, the red cedar posts were rotting, a couple fell down. I took the whole fence down. We used the garden with NO fence for approximately 7 years, with no problems from the animals. They never ate anything. Then they started. Soon after (maybe 9 years after the fence came down), we could not grow anything. The animals ate everything, even the potato tops (which are supposed to be poisonous). I suspect there is an animal memory. Maybe seven years is typical life cycle for deer and raccoons. So, once you get the fence working, it is easy coasting. Again, sorry for so many words. Good Luck!

The deer seem to like some of the plants from the Lily family. I'm growing several different Lily varieties, including the 8 foot bushy Breck's LilyTrees and found out that the Dial soap in the colorful socks seem to keep them away from my flower and veggies. The deer seem to pass up my area when passing through the evergreens and other trees behind my house. But, they visit my neighbors yards and wander through them and cross the streets via same, but, not mine... When I lived on a couple acres in a heavly treed area area beforehand and had a veggie garden 120 feet long by about 30 feet wide and had a 4 foot fence around same, they would jump the fence and visit my 20 foot long raised beds that were full of veggie crops. There, had raccons that gave me some competition and would even beat me to my corn when it was ready for picking and the like along with some other crops too... Now, in a senior citizens development and container gardening. This year, have 10 containers alongside the house/building that contain Lily flowers and a few veggies in the 30 to 50 gallon Rubber Maid type containers, both circular and oblong. Drilled holes in the bottom of the containers for drainage, and bars of Dial soap in the socks near all of them, and hanging off of the tomato cages etc. I like to use the Square Foot Garden method in the containers. THE PHOTO: Had just planted veggies last month in these 4 containers and have netting across same to keep the birds away from the newly planted herbs and veggie plants. Note the bar of soap hanging off of the waggon wheel. Added more of same to this area to keep the deer away... Have the Pink Flamingos "on Duty" in NJ... This post was edited by Oceanpeg on Sun, Jun 8, 14 at 7:26

This appears to be a long dead post, but I couldn't help myself after reading all this horrible advice. Herds of deer have roamed this continent for thousands and thousands of years, long before any of our houses, roads or shopping centers were ever here. Heck, most people don't even know that at one time even ELK were abundant on the east side of this country. If it had not been for our destruction of their habitat and over hunting (holy moley I sound like a greeny...what happened to this hunter?) they would still be around (Restoration of populations have been started, thankfully). Back to the topic... It doesn't matter if you own .5 acres or 5000 acres, the decision to landscape your property in a way that promotes prosperous wildlife is not only responsible, it is the right thing to do! Notice I said promote, not attract. I haven't looked this up so I am sure I will get corrected, but I would be damned if I couldn't give any game warden a good argument for what I am about to propose: Do a little research, often there is great information on .edu sites that have agricultural curriculum and often free information regarding restoration of land back to native habitat. If you live in Wisconsin, check out these sites: http://clean-water.uwex.edu/pubs/pdf/woodycover.pdf http://labs.russell.wisc.edu/landscape/publications-ii-alphabetical/ http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/WildlifeHabitat/yourland.html That is only a few to get you started. Now, that isn't to say your areas natural habitat would normally support deer, but chances are great that if you have seen them, it once did. Not only is restoring natural habitat good for deer, it is great for birds, bees, little critters and even big ones! BEARS! But that is nature. If you don't like it, move into an apartment or something. Also! Check this out, Wisconsin is zone 6 based on round stone's map: http://roundstoneseed.com/wildlife-habitat-mixes/1051-deer-and-turkey-habitat-mix.html http://roundstoneseed.com/wildlife-habitat-mixes/1046-quail-and-pheasant-habitat-mix.html http://roundstoneseed.com/wildflower-meadow-mix/1006-tall-grass-meadow-mix.html PLANT SOME SEEDS! Go find a native nursery. Planting native grasses, browse and shrubs for deer and other critters to munch on is NOT and will never, ever be considered baiting. Introduction of "food plot" mixes may be illegal in your area, but never native grasses or shrubs. I understand deer are in abundance up north comparitevely to here in the swamp (Big Cypress, FL), but by introducing more native landscaping and food sources, it will only help to prevent congregation around other limited food sources. Hope this helps and sorry for my ranting. -Tony

Thanks, The contract says that I lose 50% of my deposit. The total for both pieces was $2300. One piece is 36 x 78 and the other is 17 x 75. About $80 per square foot with the edging. They initially told me after the templator came out, they would call me to lay out the piece. But after the templator left on Friday, I got a call about 30 minutes later saying they were going to cut the piece already. I said okay, thinking that there would be no issues. I guess I could call them again to tell them I want to lay out the pieces before they cut it. It's black galaxy, so I didn't think it would be this complicated. We decided to go Halloween costume shopping for my kids and since their warehouse is near a mall (Cherry Hill), my husband said lets just stop by to look. I just don't like the feeling that I am not getting what I asked for. I did call the company again and told them that I want to make sure they are going to use the piece that I picked and that I would come by to check out the final product before they come out on Wed. I hate to have to double check on someone else who is supposed to be doing their job. I feel like it makes for such a bad start/ interaction. I was eventually planning change out my kitchen and perimeter granite and was hoping to use them for that as well.