We've had discussions about how to keep the @#$%^& deer out of our gardens, and I've described what works for me:
I have about a 60x60 foot garden area which I till with my five foot KK tiller behind my tractor. Because I do the tilling that way, and because of space constraints around my garden spot, I need to have a fence I can take down to give me tractor access. So, I've been using cattle panels, which are 52 inches high by 16 feet. I hold them up with minimal numbers of t-posts just barely sunk in the ground. Because deer can easily bounce over that low a barrier, I wire 2-3 foot pieces of pvc pipe to each t-post and string nylon cord all the way around the plot, using two strands with the highest at about seven feet. I then use plastic flagging tape to add some visual clues to the string. In the three years I've done this, no deer have jumped into my garden. It's pretty easy to set up and take down. Except.....I have to store the cattle panels somewhere when I'm not using them. Well, I guess I could just leave them on the ground near my garden spot, but that's not aesthetically pleasing. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] So, I've been hanging them on spikes in my barn. If you've ever tried lifting cattle panels and moving them around, you'll know that hanging them like I do and getting them down can be a real fun chore. They try their best to wiggle, get caught on anything nearby, and whap you in the head when you think you've got them under control.
I'm turning 57 this year, and I figure I can keep doing this stuff for a while yet, but there will come a time when I want to garden, but with less effort.
So, as it happens, I also have a small area where I have constructed two raised beds using cinder blocks. The beds are about 4x24 feet, and are enclosed in a fenced area 18x36 feet, with the whole space around the beds mulched, so I have walkways around the beds and a place for two more smaller raised beds when I get around to building them. The cinder blocks make good borders. They're relatively cheap, last forever, and have handy holes in them for holding poles, or marigolds or whatever. The fence around this area is 5 foot welded wire, with 2x4 inch holes. It should keep out most small critters, but again the deer could easily bounce over the five foot fence. So, what I've done is stick pieces of pvc pipe (I love pvc pipe) in the cinderblock holes every few feet along the sides of the raised beds adjacent to the fence. The deer don't seem interested in bouncing into the area if they will either impale themselves on those white things in there, or perhaps break a leg on the cinderblocks.
Now, I've started thinking about converting my whole garden to these raised beds. I have space for at least twelve 4x24 foot beds, and access to unlimited free mulch, and inexpensive compost, from the nearby city. I'm thinking of starting my conversion to raised beds at one end of my garden and just gradually filling the entire space over two to three years. Then, when I have it all finished, I can put up my premanent fence and use the same trick with trellises, pcv pipe, tomato stakes, or whatever, along sides of the beds adjacent to the fence to provide the deer deterring visual barrier. Pieces of cattle panels can make really nice trellises, too. My dirt is already pretty good, but I'll add enough organic stuff to each bed to make it easy to till with the little Mantis-type tiller I have. If my experience with my first two of these beds holds true, I should be able to essentially eliminate weeds from them.
Sound reasonable?
Chuck
Reply With Quote
