I live on the North Shore of Long Island. I have (or should I say had) 2 1/2 acres of garden including prize winning day lilies, irises, hyrdrangeas. Now all I have is barren weed-caked soil and deer. Tonight I saw my one remaining Casablanca lily bud which was on a stone patio up a flight of six steps outside my dining room doors -eaten. The deer have eaten every flowering shrub, yucca spikes, geraniums, roses, balsam even sedum and portulacas. There is nothing they don't devour. The shame of it is that nothing deters them. I have a very expensive Deer Tech sonic deterrent system which costs me $3500 to install and $2800 a year to maintain. The deer browse right next to the units. I have used soap, pepper, liquid fence, deer off, bobcat urine, blood meal, milorganite, garlic, perfume oils to no avail -the deer consider them a condiment. Recently, I started spending 1 hr each evening and again in the morning wrapping and unwrapping each lily bud in gauzy row cover fabric and fastening it around the stem so it looked like a lollipop. The deer simply ate right through it. Next I encased each lily bud in a freezer weight zip-lock bag -again they chewed right through it and ate the bud. I am close to tears each morning when I visit my garden and see that there is no single blossom left. I used to look out my kitchen window to a sea of lilies. This summer the forest rats robbed me of the joy of seeing even a single flower. My border of phlox are gone and the replacements lasted one evening. My husband and I became infected with babesiosis and he almost died from it. I had $6500 damage to my car last fall when I hit one. I am sick of this infestation -they are nothing but vermin and the environment is suffering as a result. The new saplings are being destroyed and the understory plants that are home to small mammals, quail, pheasants and other birds are being denuded. During the rut, bucks can become vicious. One attacked my gardener and tried to gore him. He made it into his truck only to have the buck ram the truck damaging it to the point that it was undriveable. We feel like we are under siege. We are in the process of stringing 8' high barbed wire fencing around the perimeter of our property. Can you imagine living in a formerly lovely property that now looks like a prison? Deer are a national epidemic that are causing environmental, economic, public health and safety catastrophes. Suddenly Bambi is no longer cute. Our community has authorized culling -3 blinds and infrared cameras will be installed to track the deer and hunters will have access throughout the year. 21 deer were culled from my neighbor's yard just last year...that is the level of our populations. We also have albino deer because the herds are getting inbred. If anyone can figure out a solution -they should get the Nobel prize!

"I assume there would be health concerns with the Weed & Feed chemicals getting into a vegetable garden. What should I do to address these concerns?" I would guess that by the time the cardboard disintegrates enough to let plant roots through into the existing soil the weed and feed would be a non issue. If you are really worried, send an email to Scott's and see what they say. Rodney

If it is the only spot with enough sun, and you don't mind a bit of disorder or choose some of the more ornamental support structures and plants, it might work out well. If you do a search for parterres you may get some ideas on plants and arrangements to help make it attractive. Check out Redbor kale (the only veggie I have grow that causes neighbors to stop to ask for an ID) or Bright Lights Swiss chard. I find both pea plants and some of the larger cherry tomato plants attractive, and if grown up a pretty trellis would look nice. My experience is that a solid barrier or air space are really the only things that keep roots out of good soil. I had maple roots grow up through the drain holes to fill an entire half barrel planter, so when I replaced it, I set them either up on bricks or in a shallow saucer. So rather than a traditional raised bed, consider large free-standing containers that can be set either on a solid barrier on the soil surface or raised up to leave at least an inch of air space. Just remember that the solid base can't be built in since the bed will still need to drain and roots will grow up into the soil through drainage holes. They will also need more attention to moisture and soil fertility and texture since you will be working in a container garden rather than a typical raised bed.

Like the basic idea of having the master on one side of the house and the children's rooms on the other. Like that you're walking between two walk in closets to get to the master bath rather than the other way around (as some have drawn). If you want the option of considering your "dining room" an adult "bonus room" -- more options always being a really good idea -- you might want to put your shower head over the tub, forget the shower and link the master bath and that left side hall half bath/powder room to become a jack&jill bath. You could always keep that connecting door from the powder room locked unless and until you need to open it for use by someone in the adult bonus "guest" room. I always think of a "great room" as having all three rooms: living, dining and kitchen -- in one space that is open. Not a fan of how you've added a separate dining room and office space, chopping up your great room with uneven walls and blocking off the living area from the front of the house except for a narrow hallway. Consider creating a great room in the middle with no separate dining room and move one of those front bonus rooms (office/media) to the right wing of the home. Have a center hall on the right of the great room to lead to the four equal sized rooms (possible bedrooms) -- two pair on each side of that center hall -- with a jack&jill bath (a bath and a half) between each pair of rooms, each with equal sized closet space and windows in that right wing of the house. If two of your three children are girls, they'd share a jack&jill bath; if two of your three children are boys, they'd share. That fourth "bedroom" on the right side could be your guest room or your children's "bonus" room -- usable as children's playroom or media/game room -- whatever they need as they grow up -- a more practical location than carving it out of the great room because it would have access to its own powder room. You might want to have the front and back edge of your porch floors and roof even with the front and back walls of the house for more porch space-- preferably a full width covered porch -- between the two wings of the house and have the front and back walls of the two wings -- on the right side of the house and left side of the house -- be in a straight line. Even if your don't align all of the exterior walls, you could straighten that front garage wall -- enlarging the garage on the front side of the house so you'll have more room to walk all the way around your parked vehicles. Enlarging it enough for two separate garage doors for a two car garage would decrease the likelihood of collision upon entry/exit of the garage. If you'll be keeping a mower and tools in the garage you will want a space for them so you'll not be tripping over them. Consider adding a slightly raised curb and sidewalk at least on the house side of the garage about six feet deep and add any built in storage you might need between the garage entry door and the front of the garage -- and you've just added more sound barrier and temperature barrier to that wall. Use the depth of that built in storage space at the entry point (laundry room) as a mini-hall ( about 3'x3') of dead air space, preferably with a vent fan, putting a good storm door between the garage and that mini hall and putting your garage entry door on the laundry side of the mini-hall. That could decrease the car smells and exhaust fumes and noise that could enter the house. More exterior wall angles (and footing/foundation angles) and more roof ridges and valleys will cost you more. Straightening the exterior foundation and walls will be at least worth considering.