deterrent or not?

I found a pile of very fresh deer droppings in the backyard- near the perennial bed, on the lower end of the slope. Still surprised they don't touch the garden. I circled my leaf-mulch-pile fencing around the oakleaf hydrangea to prevent them from eating more of that, but shrugged off the hostas as a loss this year. Trimmed some hyssop that's now sprawling into the driveway, and stripped its pungent leaves to scatter among the tomatoes and zucchini. I do this with lavender and summer savory as well. 

The cuban oregano didn't do so well along the edge of the roots bed, or the edge near the turtlehead patch, but the ones across the end of the first bed that has pole beans this year, are thriving. I trimmed a few and planted the cuttings on either short end of the new beds, so one set near the leeks and tomatoes, the other near the empty bed. It's also a pungent plant, maybe that also helps.

Marigolds are very thick in the garden this year, but with few flowers. Is it because I saved my own seed? or something to do with the soil? However when I brush against the foliage there's the same strong odor, so maybe they still do just as good a job of repelling some pests.

Because I mentioned turtlehead, here's some of those- in full bloom now.