​Nothing frustrates a gardener more than wildlife eating your plants. Some of the biggest complaints involve deer, rodents, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, and groundhogs. Where I live, we seem to have very few small mammals (except for voles), probably due to large numbers of predators such as foxes, coyotes, and birds of prey. We rarely see rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, or groundhogs (I do not think we have ever seen a groundhog on our property). What we do have a problem with, in central Wisconsin, however, is deer. During our first year living here, we were involved in three car accidents, all caused by deer.

​If you spend any time Googling “deer fencing,” you will find many varied opinions. Most of those solutions have not worked for us. I can tell you what has not worked for us in central Wisconsin and what currently seems to be working (fingers crossed it continues to work). We have a large fenced-in garden, about a half-acre in size, which makes it more challenging to keep deer out, mostly due to cost. A large garden, especially in a rural setting, also makes it easier for deer to jump since they have plenty of room outside and inside to jump. Our garden contains our vegetable garden, fruit trees, wine and table grapes, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and rhubarb. If you do not want to read the entire post about our fencing journey here is a list of what did not work for us: a six-foot electric fence, fishing line around a 6-foot electric fence, an 8-foot non-electric fence, and a five-foot outer fence around an eight-foot fence spaced 5-feet apart. Here is what worked (so far): two eight-foot fences spaced five feet apart.

We started with a six-foot electric fence that was solar-powered. We knew a deer could easily jump this height, but our research suggested that the deer would nose the fence first. After being shocked the deer would then ignore the fence. We were also limited by budget and could not afford a taller fence. This fence worked well for several years until it suddenly did not. Once the deer learned there were tasty plants inside the fence they continued to jump it. However, we mostly had a problem with the deer jumping the fence in the fall to eat all the brassicas made sweet by frost. Eventually, however, they started jumping it more frequently. We would put netting over high-priority crops and spray liquid fence, but these were temporary solutions.

​We read that if you string fishing line around your garden the deer will not be able to see it but will feel it walking past and get scared. So, we strung fishing line around our entire garden, outside our 6-foot fence. For us, all the deer did was break the line and then jump the fence. Maybe this would work better if you used a stronger fishing line, but we decided instead to increase the height of our fence.

​We decided to upgrade our original six-foot fence with T-post extenders from The Fence Department (Extend-A-Post) to turn it into an eight-foot fence. We removed the solar-powered electric unit, since at this point, it had stopped working anyway. The problem with T-posts was that they only went two feet into the ground and we could not put much tension on the lines because the T-posts, especially with the extenders on top, were not stable enough at the corners even with anchors. We had lots of sagging lines and the deer were able to jump the fence. We hoped that if we fixed the sagging lines to make it consistently eight-feet high this would solve our problems. At this point, we also upgraded to an eight-foot gate. Rather than make our own we purchased a kit from Deer Busters, which was easy to install (although it does involve concreting in the posts), but the highest they sell is eight feet tall, which as we discovered, is not sufficient to keep deer out.

​To solve our sagging fence problems my husband decided to make reinforced corners out of 4x4s so we could put more tension on the wire and eliminate the worst of the sagging. We bought 12-foot pressure-treated 4x4s and cemented three into the ground four feet deep with 2x4 reinforcements between each 4x4. The corners turned out beautifully, and we eliminated the worst of the sagging, however, the deer continued to jump the fence easily.

​Multiple times I read deer can jump high or far but not both. Since we had one deer that insisted on jumping our 8-foot fence every night and eating all my cabbages, we decided to add on a second outer fence. From what I read you only needed a short second fence (some people even claim two, four-foot fences spaced five feet apart are sufficient), so we rounded up all our extra T-posts and made a second fence using plastic snow fencing, approximately five foot high around our eight-foot fence with a five-foot gap in between the two fences. Unfortunately, the deer continued to jump both fences every night, eating up my peas, beans, and the rest of my brassicas. I should also mention that normally liquid fence works well for us to keep deer damage at bay but this year (2024) was one of the wettest on record with massive amounts of rain (20 inches in both May and June). The rain washed away the liquid fence spray as fast as we could apply it. At this point we were second-guessing whether we should have just hired a company to install a 12-foot welded wire fence, but earlier quotes had been $5000 for materials alone plus the cost of installation. We assumed that even if we could find someone to install a fence, the cost would be $10,000-$15,000 which was not in the budget. However, we had probably spent at least $6,000 on fences that did not work so in hindsight maybe paying for a 12-foot fence installation would have been preferable. 

Since we had already bought the snow fencing, we decided to try one more time to build a double fence, but this time we made the second one eight feet tall to match our first one. This is one of the recommendations by the Minnesota Department of natural resources (see link for other recommendations). We found 10-foot T-posts (not cheap) at Home Depot, so we removed the snow fencing from the shorter T-posts and replaced them with the bigger ones. Between the shorter and taller second fence, my poor husband pounded in about 80 T-posts over a two-week period. We then re-assembled the snow fencing on the taller T-posts and added deer netting to fill in the gap below. We also had to rig up fencing along the gate but this had to be removable at the bottom to enter the garden (we used step-in posts). Thus far, the deer have not managed to jump both eight-foot fences, and hopefully, this will continue in the years to come.

By the time we put in two eight-foot fences, we had lived on our property for eight years. In hindsight, I wished we had saved up money to have a company install a 12-foot welded wire fence from the beginning. It would probably have cost the same amount we spent over the years on temporary solutions, plus it would look more attractive than two 8-foot fences cobbled together with T-posts, T-post extenders, and multiple types of netting. One piece of advice I can give is to deal with infrastructure first. Get your fencing, sheds, animal coops, etc. in place and make them properly, before you go all out on fruit trees, vegetables, or animals. Someday, maybe I will take that advice!

​I love my raised beds and usually add 1 to 2 more every year to my garden. There are several advantages to using raised beds to grow vegetables.

​What materials to build your raised beds with is a hotly debated topic. I prefer untreated wood, although I would be comfortable using treated wood today as copper is used as a preservative rather than arsenic. A study by Oregon State University (4) has found that only one inch of soil along the edge of the bed shows increases in copper levels, and that increase was small (20 ppm over untreated raised beds). We started with untreated lumber as it was cheaper than treated and even using untreated 2x10 boards our raised beds have lasted about 7 years. We built our first raised beds in 2017 and only this year (2024) have we started to replace some of the sides. We bought an Alaskan sawmill this spring and own a red pine plantation that needs thinning, so my husband has been milling 6x6s to build new raised beds and replace our older raised beds. The big advantage of 6x6s is that you can more comfortably sit on the edge of the bed to plant or weed.

The gold standard for raised beds is cedar wood. I would love raised beds made out of cedar 6x6s but cedar wood is unfortunately extremely expensive. If you are only going to build one or two raised beds you could consider cedar depending on your budget. However, I have 19 raised beds and the cost of cedar is unrealistic. There are also other rot-resistant wood types, such as redwood, but they can be hard to source and expensive.
Metal-raised beds, usually steel galvanized with zinc to prevent rusting, are becoming more popular. Although zinc can be toxic in large amounts it seems unlikely that enough would leach into a raised bed to cause toxicity issues. We also use galvanized food and water containers for our chickens and ducks and galvanized water tanks for livestock have been used for a long time. Therefore, I feel a galvanized metal raised bed is unlikely to cause health issues. Furthermore, I have heard good things about some of the metal raised bed kits (such as Epic Gardening Birdies Metal Raised Garden Beds[6]) you can buy regarding longevity and ease of construction, but I have no experience with them myself. If you decide to buy a galvanized livestock tank to use as a raised bed instead of a raised bed kit, just be sure to add drainage holes and ensure it is tall enough to accommodate the roots of your plants.

Concrete (cinder) blocks are often used because they are easily available, relatively cheap, and heavy so no extra supports are needed. I would not use concrete blocks because, in addition to cement, sand, and gravel they also contain fly ash which is a byproduct of burning coal. However, this will likely only leach into the soil in large amounts if the integrity of the block is compromised. If you use concrete blocks, in good condition, this may be an acceptable choice for a raised bed. You can also choose to line your concrete blocks with a food-safe plastic liner, however, many people do not like growing food in plastic, even food-safe plastic.
​
Materials I do not recommend are railroad ties, due to the creosote used as a preservative which is also a carcinogen. I also see old tires being used locally as raised beds, but this is not recommended since tires are made of petroleum-based products. Rubber degrades with exposure to UV light from the sun which will then leach petroleum chemicals into your soil.

​A typical raised bed size is often 4x8 feet. The first raised beds we ever built were five feet wide. This was too wide to easily reach the center of the bed for planting and weeding. I suggest limiting your raised beds to no more than four feet across, but three feet is also acceptable, particularly if you are on the short side. The distance in length does not matter although I suspect eight feet is often used because wood is readily available in eight-foot sections, and it is easier to transport. There is no reason however that you cannot make longer raised beds, you would just need support along the way. Many people also get creative and make raised beds in different shapes to make meandering pathways between them. I am unfortunately not that creative and line mine up in two rows with each bed running north-south.

My older raised beds were made using 2x10s so they were roughly 9.25 inches high or, if we added two layers, for example, to grow asparagus with deep roots, were 18.5 inches high. These were a great height but made it difficult to sit on the edge given the sides were only 1.5 inches wide. Our new raised beds made with 6x6s are currently only one layer high, so 6 inches (these are actually 6 inches high since we milled them ourselves, if you buy 6x6s in a lumber yard they will likely be 5.5” unless you can find rough sawn wood). We plan to slowly add more layers of 6x6s as we have the time to mill more logs. Ideally, a raised bed is 12-18 inches tall, but I found having the wider 6x6s raised beds easier to work with than the taller 2-inch-wide boards so am willing to sacrifice height temporarily until we mill more 6x6s. Even a 6-inch raised bed provides advantages to growing directly in the ground.
​
As far as spacing is concerned, I like 3-4 feet between each raised bed. I found that 2 feet is too small to easily work in between raised beds.

​Whether you buy or build your raised beds comes down to two different factors: budget and DIY ability. We chose to build our raised beds because I wanted quite a few of them which made buying them too expensive, and my husband and I are reasonably handy. We already had the tools needed (saws, drills, etc.) to build wooden raised beds. If you do not already have tools available weigh the cost of buying a raised bed kit with the cost of buying or renting tools plus lumber to build your own. Many hardware stores will also cut lumber to size for you so that could eliminate the need to buy a saw.
​
When we built our raised beds with 2x10s we used screws to hold the boards together with a 2x4 at the corners. When we used 6x6s we pre-drilled holes through the 6x6s and then pounded a long spike through to hold them in place. In general, screws are preferable to nails because if you make a mistake, you can easily remove the screw. One thing we did not add to our raised beds is hardware cloth lining the bottom. This is used to prevent rodents from burrowing underneath and eating the roots. This has not been a problem for us but if you have high rodent pressure in your area I would recommend it.

When starting a raised bed from scratch I like to combine peat moss (make sure you buy the sustainable Canadian peat moss), topsoil or garden soil (about 50%), compost/composted manure, and sometimes a little sand. We usually get our topsoil/garden soil delivered as it is cheaper than bags if you need large amounts. Our compost is either our own (kitchen scraps mixed with used pine shavings from our chickens and ducks that have been composted sufficiently to reduce any pathogen load) or compost in bags we get from our local home improvement store. Sometimes peat moss is not recommended because it can cause your bed to dry out too much. I add no more than half a bag to my 4x8 foot raised beds and have not had a problem. After a raised bed is established, I usually add an inch or two of compost each year to maintain the fertility of the soil. I also grow many plants in pots and when I need to refresh the soil in my pots, I often dump the leftover potting soil into my raised beds (assuming no diseases were present). Potting soil usually has good drainage so this can also increase the health of your raised bed soil. The cost of filling a raised bed can be as expensive or more expensive than the cost of a raised bed itself, so be sure to add up the total cost before you build too many raised beds you cannot afford to fill. This is why we have slowly added 1 or 2 raised beds per year rather than making them all at once.

​I love raised bed gardening and firmly believe the advantages outweigh the time and cost required to build or buy them. The vegetables in my raised beds routinely outperform my other vegetables in both output and health. If you wish to learn more about raised bed gardening, I encourage you to read or listen to Joe Gardener’s blog/podcast (links below) which is very comprehensive, and check out the other resources provided.

I purchased fifty Early Golden Persimmon seeds, from Perfect Circle Farm in late winter of 2024. Early Golden is a cold-hardy American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) variety. Not surprisingly American persimmons are native to the United States from much of the east coast to the mid-west. According to BONAP they are not native to Wisconsin (where I live) but are found nearby in Iowa and Illinois. They are also native to similar and even more northern latitudes in New York. I chose the Early Golden variety because it is supposed to be hardy to zone 4, where I live. Like many tree seeds in northern climates, persimmon seeds require cold stratification. You can keep them moist, wrapped in a paper towel, or sphagnum moss, in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. They need a 60–90-day stratification period. After stratifying, I moved the seeds to a heat mat on March 1st, keeping them moist. I checked them every couple of days and first noticed that some seeds looked like they started germinating on March 16th. I then put the seeds in nursery pots designed for trees (see below) and waited much longer than expected for them to emerge (maybe I was mistaken about their earlier germination).

I bought some deep nursery pots on Amazon that are 4-5 inches wide at the top and 12 inches tall. These types of pots are used for trees to accommodate long tap roots. As soon as I noticed germination I moved my seeds to potting soil in the nursery pots and covered them with a thin layer of soil. I moved them off the heat, and until they start sprouting (seeds put their roots out first, before their first leaves) they do not need light, just moisture. I waited until our days warmed up in late spring before I moved the pots outside, but it was not until June 26th that I first saw seedlings emerge from the soil. I was surprised because I assumed the seeds were not viable as it took so long to see growth. So far about 8 have sprouted (update, about 3 dozen have sprouted by 7/24/24). When the seedlings get big enough (maybe 6 inches) I will transplant them. I plan on putting these trees in our fields, partly for our use but mostly for wildlife.

​American persimmon trees prefer full sun and moist but well-drained slightly acidic soil. The trees get large so they should be planted 30-50 feet apart. Make sure you dig a hole at least twice as deep and wide as the pot and fertilization should not be necessary unless you are planting in poor soil. These trees do require a second tree of a different variety for pollination. If these trees survive their first few winters, I will buy another persimmon variety for pollination. Other varieties hardy to zone 4 that would work as pollinators include Yates, Garretson, and Elmo. Prok is another variety that can be used as a pollinator, hardy to zone 5. All these trees, including Early Golden, can also be purchased from Stark Brothers Nursery (and probably others) if you do not wish to start from seed. I have also found American Persimmon trees at my local home improvement store in the spring.

​Persimmons must be fully ripe, or they will be tannic and very astringent. When ripe they are often eaten fresh and used in various desserts and breads or dried and eaten like prunes. Many animals also eat persimmon fruit including deer and birds, and even skunks, raccoons, opossums, and foxes.