Mrs. DJ wants to make a sizeable investment in home gardening this year.  Last year she managed four 4x4 raised beds with tomatoes, peppers, beans and a couple of things I forget.

This year, she wants to expand into the power cut behind our house and plant 6-8 4x8 raised beds.  The extra space and volume has us scratching our heads on a couple of key items to start:

1) fencing - despite living in a small neighborhood off a busy Gwinnett/Fulton artery, we have deer regularly roaming in the back yard, so I'm hoping some of you can recommend some fencing option to help keep them out.  The caveats are 1) can't be something outlandish the HOA will get heartburn over (no one behind us and it shouldn't be visible from the street, so there are some options, just nothing crazy; 2) it can't be so big and permanent that the power company can't work around it.

2) composting - she wants to start composting this year, but we looked at HD today and weren't thrilled with the choices.  I'm open to suggestions, but she wants to avoid the "insert from top, exit from bottom" boxes as the neighbors have one and its drawing mice.

Suggestions, ideas and criticism are all welcome.

Check Out Pinterest (Mobile App And On The Web). They Have A Lot Of Ideas And Plans For  This Topic.

I have to try and outsmart the deer at my place every year. They will eat almost anything that has been fertilized that does not have a strong aroma. For my vegetable garden I use orchard netting, an 8' wide roll strung up on a wire 6 feet from the ground and angled back away from the garden. The deer can't get close enough to jump over it and apparently they don't like walking on it. The net is black plastic with about a 1" square mesh and is barely visible from a short distance away.

I have an old fashioned compost pile near the garden. I add to it constantly with scraps from the kitchen and yard debris and turn it with a pitchfork about once a week. It is constructed from cedar with 4 x 4  corner posts and 1 x 6 slats for the 3 sides, the other remains open. I left a small gap between the slats for better air circulation. Never have problems with mice or rats. Have seen a few raccoons in it especially after I have put something fresh in it but they haven't been a problem.

1) .300BLK, PVS-14, and a PEQ15

A small fm radio turned about the volume of human speech keeps them out of my parents ~1 acre garden.

I've heard of people setting up a 4' fence around the garden and then another fence 3' out from the other fence. So kinda like a double layer fence. They say the deer can't jump that deep. They can clear a 4' fence easily, but the other fence causes it to be too deep. I've never tried this myself, so I have no experience if it really works or not.

Mrs. DJ requested I ask if there is any chance you could take a picture of your setup.  I think she is leaning towards this as she used the same 1" square netting on her small 4x4 raised gardens last year with some success.

I have terrible problems with deer in the Roswell area. The angled out fencing works but it takes up too much of my garden space. I'm going to give this a try this year. It sounds too simple.....but sometimes the best solutions are.

We've had success with electric fence. I think it cost me about $200 to fence almost a whole acre. I also spread mothballs on the perimeter. It supposedly keeps animals away.
A fence charge will run between $20 and $30.
A roll of aluminum wire goes for $20
Electric fence posts run about $2 a piece

It's hard to spot if there is grass around it and it really keeps the deer at bay...not that ANY deer comes within a mile of me during season...oh well.

We make our own compost. Any organic material goes in there (that the pigs or chickens won't eat) and I turn it over about once a week or 2. I have a "big ass hole in the ground" for composting.
It takes a few months, but the compost is great.
You may end up buying some soil and compost. Hummus, peat moss and good top soil, then amend it with Epson salts, sulfur and lye as needed.
Consider planting tomatoes in homer buckets instead of a box...gives you a bit more control over the individual plants. Mr. Landscape (Lowes) brand irrigation will make your life much easier and cheaper too.

For the deer, I'd just get cheap green fence post and use rabbit wire. You can use the base of the raised bed for the bottom, as it will guide the wire's shape. You can double up the wire and make it taller, I wouldn't do anything over 4 feet, assuming you have a normal sized garden (not a plot) then the deer will just stick their heads over. I used this method before I put up chain link in my backyard, and there's lots of deer in Jackson county. If you do the fence post method, I would advise at the front of the bed to create a gate type thing, like a pipe put into the ground for two post so you can pick them up and move them outward. Just an idea. Oh, I found that marigolds not only keep the bugs out of my garden(I don't do insecticide), but also the birds and squirrels stay out.

I second the fishing line, that's what dad and I use. We also used some pallets to build a crib for compost.

I've never seen a compost pile that didn't have rats. Mice are a given, I'm talking rats.

Mine don't have either.... But there are also in bins of the ground

Above ground must be the key. When you put vegetable scraps in the pile it attracts all kind of vermin.

 

I've been having issues with gnats. But I know why. Been putting too much wet scraps and not enough brown dead stuff.

Going to buddies farm this weekend to shovel cow poop from his field to add to it. Can't believe I an exited about that...

I put up stakes around my garden with chunks of Irish Spring bar soap inside of old socks (or panty hose). There's something about the smell of Irish Spring that deer can't stand and I don't have any problems anymore. It's cheap and easy to set-up all summer long.

I have a new weapon in my arsenal this year to keep the deer away. Still experimenting with it but so far I've had good results using Milorganite around my hostas and other spring edibles in my yard. Usually the deer will come by and mow them down while they are still small and tender but I put the Milorganite all around them and they haven't touched a single one. I read that an extensive study was done at the gardens at Berry College in Rome with this stuff as a deer deterrent and it was proven to be effective.

Bonus to using it is it is also a good organic slow release fertilizer. The stuff is made from human sewage and does have a slightly unpleasant aroma if you stick your nose in the bag but barely noticeable in the garden except right after a rain. You can get it at most garden centers or Home Depot.

That's awful cheap and easy (I like it).  We'll try this if they get through our fishing line.

An old Italian friend of mine also told me of this and it worked for years he said..... then one day the deer stopped caring and mowed his garden down anyway. He had wire, electric fence, cans, sound, motion light, grizzly piss, barking dog, stinky flowers, netting and still the evil deer marched in to the buffet and fed to their hearts content. He now feeds them arrows.

I’m in S. Gwinnett.  I have found that the best/only way to keep the deer out of my garden is an electric fence.  You can buy a solar controller from Harbor Freight on the Lawrenceville highway for $65.  Swing by a Tractor Supply and get the 5” fiberglass electric fence poles and a roll of the small electric fence wiring with the yellow plastic cord through it.  The controller will support five miles of fence.  And it will knock you on your butt if you forget to turn it off.  You should be able to fence your plots for less than $150 and you don’t need 110v power.