I know what you mean. We have our greens planted right outside the front door and literally have cages setting over everything. We had to put up chicken wire fencing around the regular garden and my husband found a portable electric fence kit at a farm store to run around the top.
So far, the deer have stayed out of the garden.
We bent the bottom 5 inches of chicken wire out before putting it up so the rabbits and ground hogs hogs don’t dig underneath.
I had a beautiful magnolia tree my son brought me for my birthday a few years back and the deer have pretty much destroyed it. The only way to keep them from eating the tree is to keep it covered in netting. Sort of defeats the purpose of having a flowering tree right outside your kitchen window.
I’m going to experiment with some deer replellants pretty soon and will let you know if any actally work. My mother always used blood meal but it doesn’t seem to work on these deer.
My parents have had great luck with a lab/German shepherd mix dog. Even at 10 years old he’s still quite aggressive and keeps the critters at bay.
Bury that chicken wire. Better yet bury quarter inch mesh...5 inches deep to keep out the burrowers, I saw dogs raid a chicken coop by burrowing under fences
Though we live in Vermont, we spend the summer at our home in Nova Scotia and do all our gardening there. We’ve had an apple tree for about 12 years and it never gets any bigger. You guessed it. During the winter the deer “prune” it for us. Actually, they seem to be doing a pretty good job because we get a good crop.
We don’t have any problems with them during the summer because they don’t come down into the village.
We have been gardening in raised beds and containers for years. I love it. Weed control is easy and bending is kept to a minimum. Our two main raised beds are about 14 feet long by 2 1/2 feet wide and about 2 feet high. Hardly any bending. We also use all kinds of containers. Those large rubber maid type bins are great. This summer we plan to add about 6 of them around the garden. I’m going to build wooden frames that will slip over them. They will look like wooden planters but we won’t have to worry about anything rotting. It’s amazing how much produce one can get out of a small planter.
We will grow our tomatoes, eggplants and peppers in the hot house in large containers and 5 gallon buckets. The weather in Nova Scotia, though zone 5A on the Atlantic side of the province, just isn’t quite right for growing warm weather crops. On the Gulf side it’s lovely and warm and the climate is perfect in the interior of the province. The cool Atlantic breezes keep the tomatoes from really growing well. We’re still experimenting.
One other good thing about growing veggies in containers and raised beds it it’s easy to make greenhouse type covers for them which can give one an early start and keep things growing later into the season.
The advantage of being on the water is though it takes a long time for it to get warm enough for some crops (we are about 3-4 weeks behind Vermont) it stays warmer way into October and even November.
We leave for Nova Scotia next Friday. I have all my seeds from Veseys ready to go. We will come back to Vermont June 1 but then I go back on June 10 and stay for the rest of summer. Unfortunately, hubby has a job and, until he retires next year, he has to make due with going to the Harbour in July and September. I, on the other hand, get to make the sacrifice and take care of the garden, mow our very small lawn and sit on the veranda with friends and have dinner while watching the water. Life is tough.
we’re in michigan and im just getting my beds ready - friend has a large pile of ‘horse-dirt’ (manure that is over 7 years old) - the plants love it... keeping the critters at bay is a chore too - i typically ‘mark’ my territory as the alpha-male of the home... (neighbors prefer it when i use a coffee can...) it seems to work... not right on the plants mind-you, just around the perimeter... good luck this year!