A fence is best. 6ft tall is good. even better is a fence they cannot see through or over.
Sometimes there are codes that get in the way, or there are other reasons why we cannot have a fence.
In lieu of a fence, you might try mixing an egg with a blender of water and using a watering can to sprinkle the mixture over the plants they consume. The short-coming of this method is the need to re-apply after every rainfall.
Or plant landscape plants known for being poisonous, fragrant, or fuzzy.
Fragrant examples include salvia, monardas, rosemary, wax myrtle.
fuzzy examples include lambs ear (see foxglove page for example of lambs ear) and mullien and rose campion. I've found that fuzzy doesn't deter them very well in the winter when they're hungry.
Growing a deer resistant garden can be done with a little research and a willingness to remove the plants they eat.
I've done it and you can too.
Robert wrote me to share his method of fencing deer out of the garden.
Cleome is a good choice for the deer resistant garden.
passionflower is another good choice. Both passionflower & cleome are drought resistant as well.
Here are links to the full-sized pictures on the Flowers and Construction page with additional information about each. There's a few extra links thrown in for good measure.
