Great question! Since I would really like to have a better looking fence. Mine is 4 ft with 6 in buried to keep rabbits out. I haven't ever had a deer wander in or jump in. I think its because of all the trellises. Sort of like the double fence idea. They probably think they can't clear it and have room to land.

Our fence is roughly 3 ft tall. Any taller with a small area, We though looked odd. But to tell you the truth, I think the milorganite around the perimeter of the garden and around the edges of the back yard seems to be working so far. As I posted in another forum, I have tulips for the first time in years after using this stuff. I hung up stocking bags with it around the back yard. They didnt touch a thing back there but in the front, I had deer dung on my walk within 10 feet of my door, and they wore down an 8 ft tall Willow sapling in the front yard.I am also hoping the tall staked indeterminate tomatoes and pole beans will also help deter. I havent seen one hoof print so far inside, and I have peas and lettuce coming up, not to mention strawberries. I refuse to use this stuff "ON" the garden, but the perimeter is OK.
Tammy

Do you have mule deer where you live? Info that I got says they average about 3-1/2 feet at the shoulder, so a three-foot fence might not do the job, unless you add something else like the previous poster did (trellises spaced along the fence, for example). I would say that a four-foot fence would be good.

Where we live here in MA we have smaller white-tailed deer and I also live in a Boston suburb where deer are rare (not much farther north they aren't, though!) My problem is squirrels and rabbits - so far only flowers have been targeted but now that the veggies are in the ground I have my fingers crossed! I may be shopping for rabbit fence soon!

Good luck with the deer! :)

We have a few deer that usually stay on the other side of the creek, up on the back hill. I have one little doe that is curious and like to come a little closer to the yard. She lost interest with the blueberries and butterfly bushes, but she is curious. I'm hoping more of these, with some other shrubs and coneflowers, and other perennials she doesn't seem to like, will keep her away from the garden. She is a cutie, I just don't want her eating my veggies :)

I don't need to worry about deer since I live in the middle of town. My big concern is casting shade on my small space. Most of my picket fence that is already installed is 42" tall. I think I'm going to go with 36" and maybe even scalloping down from there for the potager. Still need to do some decision making there.

Lisa

We do have a few deer, maybe one mama and baby per summer, down in the wetlands below our yard. But I am worried about my new lettuces being discovered by them and their cousins. We have one bunnyrabbit, a fox, a weasel or something like it, and feral cats.

So I don't know exactly what to do about the final height of the south face of my new potager. The north face and the 2 sets of gate poles are all 8 ft. high, for climbing roses. There is 4 ft. high wire fence attached to them. But the south face right now has poles 5 ft. high, with 3 ft. high wire fencing, and we were thinking of sawing off the extra 2 ft. of pole along that side. Now I'm not so sure.

Could we just put up a line of wire, or a line of thin cedar wood, at the 5 ft. height? I don't want to lose too much sunlight because all my tomatoes will be right inside that south fence line.

Carol

carol6m A garden on our road uses that approach. They have taller end posts and a shorter fence for groundhogs, rabbits, etc. Then across the top a few strands of wire stretched across the taller endposts.

Thanks, ali-b. Wire or taut rope would do it. I'll address the next fence problem in a separate thread.

Carol

Well, in our case we have literal herds of deer (at least 5 separate families) so we really needed to keep them out for sure. Our potager, as you might remember from seeing the pics, is within our fenced back yard so it doesn't have its own dedicated fence. The white picket fence is 5' tall and it's kept them out for over a year now, even though I have plenty of deer candy planted throughout the entire back yard--hostas, azaleas, hydrangeas, tulips, and now the potager. The back perimeters of the property are in deep woods (where the deer are extra-active) so that fence is black vinyl coated chain link, and it's 6' tall.

Thank you for all your responses!

I've decided to use a 3' tall wire fence, with another wire or two stretched above it, so the whole fence should be about 4 1/2' tall. The 4' wire fencing seemed to tall for the space, but 3' seemed too short for the deer. I'm hoping with a wire or two stretched across the top, it will bump the deer in the head, as they peek through the shrubs and may help keep them out....I hope! (LOL) It will also blend in nicely with our horse fencing and 3' wire is less expensive :)

Here I am 3000 miles away from you, lavenderlass, and I did the same thing. 3 ft. high wire fencing, and I'll be adding either wire or a cedar 1x4 about 2 ft. higher. (The fence posts are 5" round cedar poles 5 ft. tall.)No hurry, since the veggies are mostly seeds still, and the deer (usually 1 mother & 1 or 2 fawns) don't show up til the end of the summer.

My tomatoes are in, my lettuce seeds have sprouted, and now it's a matter of waiting to see if the little band-size climbing roses survive and thrive.

I put in 2 dwarf fruit trees (peach & nectarine) about 20 ft. to the south of the potager, so the grassy area between potager fence and fruit could feel comfortable for chairs and an umbrella. But we might decide by next year to open up the south fence to extend the size of the actual potager. Part of the problem is that I realize I want more roses. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Carol

LOL

What's wrong with more roses? :)