[kath]

Had a neighbor who kept 5 gal. buckets at the corners of his very tiny garden. Well, he would make daily deposits there and he swore it kept the deer away. Since it was in the front of his place next to the driveway it might also have kept people away but that's another story.

I didn't share this earlier since others with direct experience all feel that human urine doesn't repel and might actually attract deer, but I can vouch for Liquid Fence as the only thing that keeps deer away from plants that are out in the open in our yard. It does need to be reapplied after rain, though, and it does smell really terrible. Since you wouldn't want to spray your food, I can't tell you how well it works sprayed as a border to repel them.

With regard to fencing, deer will actually jump 10' fences depending on the conditions and how determined they are to get over. We have a 7' fence which they can see through enclosing a 60' x 60' area and they have never jumped it. The smaller the area, the less likely they are to jump inside and they are also less likely to jump solid fences as they can't see what's on the other side. Double fences, as Keith mentioned, are a deterrent even when they're only a few feet high and about 3' apart. Sounds to me like your idea would work if the highest strand was high enough. What are your garden dimensions?

kath