Our property has issues, such that we really can't fence along one part (what visually looks like the property line is actually our neighbors' property, plus it is along a creek, to boot). Theoretically the problem could be solved by deer fencing along the entire length of the creek (which runs the width of our property) on both banks, but that would give the property a concentration camp look, and DH refuses to do so. Therefore, half measures are used: deer fence where possible (and not unsightly), deer sprays, water blasters, dog. (But our dog is not an outside only dog... he goes outside when he wants, but otherwise is inside with us. He really is a critter hunting machine, though, and not at all deterred by deer; if he sees them from inside, he will growl and bark and we let him out to chase them out.)
I know that many people swear by Milorganite as a deer deterrent, but I decline to use sewage sludge (processed or otherwise) on or in my garden. (I know of one lady who swears by Sevin and liberally throws
that around her garden... Sevin is a "likely human carcinogen" and also not anything that I care to use in my garden.)
Lyn, don't believe that salt lick story. My neighbor on one side (also exasperated by the deer; she has given up on growing roses) told me that our problems are due to one of the neighbors uphill from us, who deliberately puts salt licks out. (No, they are not gardeners.) We gather that the deer come for the salt lick, and stay for the herbaceous salad bar (our gardens).
I do have a smallish and shady side yard where I am able to protect
some things from the deer; I keep the polymerous daylilies (plus a few other favored cultivars) there and they do okay, I suppose. I also have roses and irises in there (they do not do that well, due to the shade), and that is where my vegetable garden (which gets raided by critters every year) is.
