We have a seven wire horse fence (two electric) and the deer jump over and crawl through the fence, all the time. They love to come into the gardens (especially the kitchen garden) but at least they stay on the grass paths and rarely step in the beds. I do grow some veggies, but have to plant other flowers/herbs on the borders, to keep them from eating in the middle of the bed. If it's a taller plant, they'll find it, so this works best with bush beans, broccoli, etc. The babies will sometimes try a tomato plant or bite off a coneflower, but they soon find that it's not very tasty and don't try them again. If/when we decide to grow corn, we'll put up an 8' to 10' fence...or you could try the two 4' fences, about 4' apart. I don't know if that would work, but it's something else that's often recommended.

You'll definitely have to cover them in some way, but at night might not be enough, as deer generally feed at dawn and dusk. I'd try bird netting, just wrap it around the plants as a deterrent. I have some neighbors that do that with their roses, and I haven't asked the deer how it's working, but there are occasional blooms on them, so it must be doing something!

Having an average of 5-12 deer in my yard every day means I have concentrated on this for several years now. I live right on the edge of a large wildlife preserve where the deer have essentially wiped out ALL of the native wildflowers and groundcover plants. Most of my land is light to medium shade. Epimediums and Hellebores are a great choice (I grow over 50 species and varieties of Epis and hundreds of Hellebores). Lamium, Brunnera and Pulmonaria are also good. If you plant Lamiastrum use "Herman's Pride" its a bushy one that doesnt spread but has nice foliage and flowers. Dracunculus is fabulous as an accent in my garden. Arum italicum if it isn't an invasive in your area. Stylophorum is a must-have for the yellow in early Spring. I've had fair luck with Trilliums, T. luteum is especially good. George

A compilation of suggestions from our readers: I've had pretty good luck using bird netting. It's been especially good if I stretch it over a pvc pipe framework (which I spray painted green to be less obvious). I use it over some raised bed planters. I've watched the deer react to it from inside my house. They apparently don't see as well as they hear and smell. They poke their nose into the netting and it startles them and they shy away. Anything protruding through the netting, of course gets trimmed off. It's fairly inexpensive but sort of a nuisance when you want to work in the bed, since you have to roll it back out of the way. It also keeps out the wild turkeys. But the gophers still come in from below. I lost an entire bed of asparagus to gophers after keeping the deer out all season with the netting. I've battled deer forever and these are my tried and true working solutions to the problem....My favorite is grating Ivory soap or Irish Spring all around the items you need to protect. It's good to do this before the deer establish their trails in the very early spring. I also buy small drawstring bags made of a loosely woven material (from a local garden supply store) and fill them with Milorganite (its a fertilizer with an odor that repels deer). I hang these on the bushes and shrubs the deer love to munch! The scent of humans is repulsive to wild animals, or scary as natural enemies, and marking your territory with your scent is a natural deterent. It may be a bit unorthodox to have your husband use the garden as a toilet, but you can accomplish the same thing by soaking rags in a bucket, and then ringing your garden with the rags (using plastic gloves of course) and bury them at the outside rim of your garden with some mulch. Here's something that works great, is cheap and environmentaly safe - Mix one slightly beaten egg with 1 quart of water and spray onto anything that the deer eat. You have to re-apply this about every 4-5 days or after a rain but it really works! We've tried many things - and we have a dog but the eggs work the best. Here's what worked for me: coyote urine. They have all different types of urine drops at Agway (and probably similar stores-find out what the local carnivore is and give it a try. I also sprinkled my stuff with a ton of black and red pepper, garlic and curry powder-nothing went near my tomatoes! Spray with a little water first so it sticks to the leaves and such. You do have to redo it though-every time it rains. I've been trying everything. Here's just a few: 1) Human hair clippings from your local beauty shop sprinkled around the plants. 2) blood meal. 3) Moth ball flakes sprinkled all around. These seem to work but eventually I let any of the treatments lapse and the deer feast. . One year we had a deer problem and after the first feasting in early spring wiping out everything, we lined each bed with chives. It seemed to work and we had flowers the rest of the year, but you have to stay on top of the chives or they can take over the garden.... but when you weed the garden you can just weed out some of the chives as well. (chives bloom adding a nice variation...) Here's my list of plants that deer won't eat: for annuals use:ageratum,snapdragon,salvia,nicotiana,petunia, alyssum,marigold,begonia. Do NOT use impatiens,geraniums,pansies. For perennials, I have excellent luck with these:columbine,coreopsis,foxglove,aconitum,lavender, salvia,nepeta,daffodils,hyacinth,rudbeckia,beebalm,babysbreath.Do not use hosta,daylily,any type of mum or shasta daisy,obedient plant,echinacea. *Note* Any native plants are high risk too, except for the poisonous plants. Deer proof trees and bushes are hard to come by because the ones they don't eat can still be damaged severely by a buck. For evergreens try Spruce,hemlock,Pieris,Leucothoe,and boxwood. Do not use Yew,Arborvitae,pine,rhododendron,and azalea. There are more deer proof plants out there. Actually alot more than people think. I just can't think of them all at this time. Also, plan on using a deer repellant. I use an excellent one called Deer-off. It is completely organic and is comprised of eggs,pepper,and garlic. It is sprayed on the plants and lasts up to 3 months depending on rain and growth rate of the plants. Keep this in mind when it comes to deer: Any plant in the herb family is usually disliked. Any plant that is native is usually eaten with gusto! Any fruiting plant like an apple tree, cherry, or berry bush will be devoured. Hope this will get you started. I deal with deer on a daily basis so I am speaking from experience. I have excellent luck with; Dragons-eye pine, any ornamental grasses, butterfly bush, caryoptoris, anything with really fuzzy leaves, any mints, asiatic lilies, barberry, artimesia, gold thread juniper, trumpet vine, scotch broom, St. Johnswort and contorted hazel. Try Deeroff: Rutgers University ranked deeroff number 1 out of 35 repellents tested. Now labeled for rabbits and squirrels.