This will be the first of several updates. After starting this post, I made additional changes. Such is gardening life.
First of all, I decided the netting on the crop cages was too dense for sunlight, not to mention pollinators. However, I still had the deer issue to consider.
I removed the netting and switched to a less dense netting that runs around the sides of the crop cage. I used twist ties to hold everything together. Frugal me saved the twist ties from the bunches of kale I buy for our morning smoothies. I ended up tweaking this new design; more to come in the next post.
I think the metal raised beds are a better bet for our garden. These tomatoes, living in compost, mulched leaves, and grass cuttings, are much happier than the ones planted in raised beds I made over the wood chips. I think it’s also harder for our newer pest, the voles, to get into these raised beds.
After realizing how to create the permanent vegetable garden in this area, I spent some type starting new beds for the fall. I also made the area rectangular in shape.
The bed at the end here is one of the new beds. To build it, I lay down cardboard and paper and dumped shredded leaves, homemade compost, and lobster compost over top. Then, I sprinkled a cover crop of peas and oats from Botanical Interest over everything.
Both plants add nitrogen to the soil, add organic matter, and the peas attract beneficial insects with their blooms. I’m planning on putting in a fall cover crop which we can turn over into the beds next spring. I can also add chopped comfrey leaves on the top of the bed to break down for next year.
2 dogs and a house 
You are so brave and so energetic to do all this gardening. This past spring I planted lots of pansies in my flower bed. It’s a large circle enclosed by a cement block border; the blocks are positioned so that there is a crack going down to the ground at the end of each block. It made a nice place to sit while planting because I could then reach the inside very easily. So I sat there over 3 days planting my flowers (which fortunately have turned out very well and bring me lots of compliments). Yet, the other night I was spraying the flowers with deer repellent and 2 very large black widow spiders poked up from the cracks in the cement! WOW, to think that I was that close to them when I did that planting. Will have to come up with another way to get the job done next spring!!!/
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Wow! 2 large black widow spiders would have freaked me out!
Your garden sounds lovely. Pansies are one of my favorite spring flowers. I found a new striped variety at Bakers Creek that I grew from seed. I’d like to grow more next year.
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