An Iowa Garden

I like to think our woodland garden is in harmony with nature, but there are a few rules and boundaries that I expect the critters to observe... we all have to do our part if this harmony thing is going to work. All of our wooded land is open to the free use of all the animals, except the garden itself, which is one acre. I do request that the deer and rabbits stay out of the garden and to this end, I have a six foot tall woven wire fence around the entire garden, backed up in many spots by shrubbery hedges, with five wooden gates entering it. I found that small rabbits were still squeezing in through the fence, then on a steady diet of hostas, growing so large they couldn't get back out (not that they were interested in leaving). Therefore a three foot rabbit fence was added to the bottom of the first fence, and it was buried to a depth of six inches so that the bunnies wouldn't just dig underneath. That left me with the moles, which could still tunnel in, and proceed to plow up all my flower beds, popping many little plants up out of the ground, or allowing voles to use the burrows, and they would chew the roots off of plants, so they would suddenly turn up their toes and die. Therefore, I now am digging a two foot deep trench around the garden, and lining it with a thick, flexible plastic sheet. Finally, this spring I'm able to meander about the garden without tripping over mole burrows heading towards my primula garden. All is in harmony now, with a critter barrier extending from six feet above ground to two feet under; of course this doesn't stop the coons and possums, who still think they own the place, and the former are currently pulling the water plants out of my goldfish pond one by one... so it's an uneasy truce.