Garden fence for deer and small animals

I've found only one defense for my garden against deer and smaller critters such as raccoons and groundhogs.

Over the many years I've been gardening, I experimented with all sorts of remedies that have been touted by advertisers and recommended by garden writers. I've concluded there's only one reliable defense and that is a fence - either a really high (like seven feet) chain link or woven wire fence, or a really good electric fence which is, of course, easier and cheaper.

I've been fencing with electricity for the past several years, experimenting with different types of chargers and configurations. The only installation that works for me is a five-strand fence powered by an AC charger rated at 10 miles - meaning it will carry a meaningful shock through electric-fence wire for 10 miles.

My garden, which is about 60 ft. by 90 ft. sits a long distance from the house, so I had to bury an electric wire under the lawn and under two driveways, but this thing is worth it. Every year I find traces of deer trying to bust the system, but usually only once. That kind of shock trains a deer pretty quick.

It takes about a quarter-mile of wire to go around my garden with five strands, but the wire is very light-weight and fairly cheap. Five strands are required because the lowest strand is only about three inches off the ground, the next about two inches higher, then another three or so. No critter except maybe mice and moles will get under it because it is so low. The top wire is only about 3-ft. high, which a deer could easily jump if it could figure it out. Lucky for me all my deer pests are too dumb for that.

Such a design means the gardner must religiously trim the grass and weeds from under that lower wire to keep it from shorting out.

The "posts" are fiberglass sticks that you can push into the ground with your foot, with clips for the wire, except for the corner posts which are regular steel "T" posts with an anchor at the base. They have to be driven in securely with a post driver and provided with those yellow insulator things you see in the photo. All the parts are available at Tractor Supply Company.