Garden

[On It]

My husband and I live in an area with abundant wildlife that we treasure. We have been trying to decide how to make a vegetable garden in our back area. We knew we needed a fence and have collected several ideas. We hoped to get it ready by next Spring.

A few minutes ago I watched an elk jump a neighbor's metal fence to graze in the pasture. It was the fence that adjoins this one. It is the same height and material.  She jumped from a standing position on all fours and cleared the fence like a track star.

My husband thinks we will need an 8 foot or higher fence. Maybe we should do a greenhouse instead? We are dirt farmers accustomed to acreage and outdoor plantings. Is a greenhouse difficult to maintain? Is it worth the investment? Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.

[cheriere]

@On It 

lol, I know just what you mean.  While we don't have all the beautiful wildlife like you do, we sure have plenty deer and rabbits.  That's why our garden is fenced high, not the prettiest either, but it does work.

[Carmie]

I have deer who like to eat my foundation plants at the front of my house.  They have destroyed hundreds of dollars worth of plants by eating them down to the roots.

I don't have a fence, but I have plastic forks.  I mixed them in with some metal forks I got at the dollar store and pushed them into the ground.  It does keep the deer out.  They won't walk through the forks.

Maybe this will work for you. It's worth a try.

(stock photo, not my garden)

[Oldfshndhomemaker]

Had to chime in on this one. My husband and I were market gardeners for many years with a couple acres of woods next to our property. A greenhouse must be "babysat." First think about being able to water. You also have to think about being able to get in the tunnel with equipment to fertilize and amend the beds, you don't want the equipment to pack down the soil. As for the elk....we had deer. I always heard at least a 9ft. Fence is recommended. With the greenhouse it must be opened in the morning or everything will burn up and closed at night or the nighttime critters will eat your crop. And when a storm comes by we would close and secure the tunnel to run back out and open it up again after the storm passed. And air flow is necessary you need fans and that means it needs electricity.

I am an at home person 90% of my time and enjoy QVC to keep me company. I read these forums all the time for years and often wanted to comment but was afraid of the negativity. This just happened to one of those subjects I thought I could lend some advice.

[On It]

@cheriere Thank you for responding. Our concern is building a fence that is too short. Adding the extra height is going to be costly to prevent the strong winds we have each Spring from taking it down. An extra tall fence will need stronger materials and support posts buried in concrete. I still don't know if an outside garden would produce very much. Our growing season is short because of the late freeze date (May 27).

The produce in our stores is not good. Getting it to this remote location in a timely manner seems like it is not going to happen. The only really fresh items we get are Hatch chiles.

I am leaning toward a greenhouse, but they seem so small. I guess we would need to learn a lot about timing and crop rotation. I am lost.

[On It]

@Carmie That is a clever idea. Thank you for sharing.

[ThinkingOutLoud]

I know someone who does something similiar to this with drip irrigation. It keeps the critters out and it works well for their needs.

[On It]

@Oldfshndhomemaker I appreciate your knowledge and wisdom. I had no way of understanding the complexity of using a greenhouse. Without your advice, we could have made a costly mistake. You explained exactly what I needed to know. Thank you.

[Still Raining]

Around here, in addition to deer, rabbits and moles are problems.  Also need to consider what type of equipment you wish to use, how wide is your tractor?

If you are starting from scratch, they do sell deer fence with bottom skirting for rabbits.  Might want to check that price vs an add on.

If you are going to excavate for top soil, you can go a little deeper and put down metal mesh to keep out burrowing critters.  But the posts will need attending to.  Otherwise the best solution will be raised boxes with wire mesh bottoms.

Neighbor put in nice raised boxes and then set up portable fencing, like for construction.  He takes it down at the end of the season.  But that is a smaller area.

[Nightowlz]

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@Carmie wrote:

I have deer who like to eat my foundation plants at the front of my house.  They have destroyed hundreds of dollars worth of plants by eating them down to the roots.

I don't have a fence, but I have plastic forks.  I mixed them in with some metal forks I got at the dollar store and pushed them into the ground.  It does keep the deer out.  They won't walk through the forks.

Maybe this will work for you. It's worth a try.

(stock photo, not my garden)

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@Carmie 

I had to do that with my potted plants to keep the squirrels out. I think I put the upside down forks in the pots 3 years in a row. The past 2 years the squirrels have not been in the pots much? I will see what they do this year.

DH made round cages with some type chicken wire with smaller holes. He just places the cage over the plants so they can grow.