Translate

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Deer Fence

We had a little trouble with deer last year.  They did some damage to a few of the tomatoes, and hit the green beans and radicchio.  They even ate some hostas and other flowering plants.  Their numbers are on the rise. I don't want to lose any more vegetables - especially as we expanded the beds this year.

The obvious solution is some deer fencing.  The problem was that I don't want to sink fence posts in the yard.  I hate the permanence of fence posts, and our 'soil' is nothing but rock and hard pan (the joys of being in a valley which had its origins with ancient glaciers).

My solution was to put metal fence posts into cinder blocks and secure them with concrete.  If I decide to move the fencing, I just pick up the blocks / posts.  I chose 5 foot posts and 5 foot deer fencing.  The fence wraps around three sides of the vegetable beds (about 100 feet of fencing).  I ran plastic coated wire around the tops of the fence, and secured the deer fencing (actually it is heavy-duty plastic netting) to the wire.  It took about three hours to put up the fencing (excluding time time to let the concrete cure).


I had to figure a simple way to make an opening in the fence.  I was thinking about some form of swinging gate, but realized the netting / fencing was pretty supple.  I just supported a portion of the netting on split rings, and allow it to slide on the wire.  It is secured on the side with clips  . . .


. . . but it can be easily opened to allow us in to work the beds.


The fencing is 5 feet high.  It won't stop the most determined deer, but it should be enough!

Wish us luck!

3 comments:

Carole said...

The fencing looks great. Can't wait to taste all those wonderful veggies!!!

Holly Knott said...

Oh so sorry about the deer! I feel your pain! I am so backlogged on checking out blogs I love but I'm going to read through months of your posts now. We had to relocate to the Berkshire Mountains in MA last fall... so I shut down my Finger Lakes Art blog and need to begin a new one. Lots of beauty here and lots of gardening to do (again!).

Uncle Tractor said...

Thanks Holly. Are you going to start blogging again once things settle down in your new place? I grew up in Massachusetts. The Berkshires are beautiful!