SweetChives: Vegetable garden in deer country

This is my first attempt to grow food in a land filled with critters, deers and ground hogs that would sabotage everything. I have wanted to grow vegetables for many years but many of the attempts has been mauled down by Bambi. Don't get me wrong, I'm a animal and nature lover and trying to make peace with nature. My herb garden is more than thriving with the buzzing of bumble bees and the rhododendron amazingly continues to tower over my south facing windows.

So I devised a plan, revised and finally, after many month of consternation, I break ground in April of 2012. The dug deep holes for the pillars and fencing posts. Raised beds nailed together, fencing put up , garden door made and finally after I was sure that the garden was a fortress, I placed the first tomato seedlings and zucchini babies.

The door is made of old oak flooring screwed together.

I also made a bean trellis, planted tons of Italian flat broad beans.

Here is the beginning of the ground laying. I used recycled 12" high lumber to make raised beds. The deer fencing which looks invisible is made of a 1 inch square nylon mesh. later in the season, the squirrels managed to eat through a few holes, squirmed in, devoured all the sun flower seeds and trampled my butter nut squash. Next season, I'm using chicken wire to line the entire bottom up to 24 inches tall. Hope this will work.

Weed block. filling raised boxes with mixed soil. I bought both organic soil and peat moss. I also added some horse manure. I did not use my own land soil because it was hard and clay like.

I used weed block paper to cover the walkways then applied black mulch on the walkways.

Door made

Simple door latch. I locked myself in the garden once. So I used a green plastic tie to make a pulley. I'm not locked in anymore.

Tomatoes and Basils

This is a blueberry bush that I bought from Costco for $18.99 3 years ago. I have been growing it in pots, transplanted 3x. It is doing well but if I put it out in the yard, the critters will eat it. I build a temp frame for it until I can think of a better way to protect it.