We’ll see how well my garden fence actually keeps out deer once there is something in the garden that the deer might like. So far there isn’t much in the garden that is more than an inch high, except for a tomato plant I got from a friend, a few pepper plants, and some potatoes that have sprouted. More will grow or be planted shortly.
Anyway, here are the photos I’ve been promising of my deer fence. I had the wooden pickets and wanted to use them just because I already had them. But they are only about three feet high, and a garden generally needs an 8′ fence to be confident of keeping deer out. Here’s how I compensated and made do. Click on any photo to make it bigger.
One technique I used was to take advantage of some terracing of the yard. The terrace is only about three feet high, but with the shrubbery above it and then a three-foot-plus fence above that, I think it will deter the deer quite effectively along that side:
Then, from the other direction, this is how I tackled the challenge:
You might not be able to see the details in that photo, so here is a better closeup:
I used branches from pruning the fruit trees to extend the posts higher. Then I strung some thick orange twine across at a couple of intervals, then hung some lengths of twine vertically to create the illusion that the area is “occupied” by a fence. From what I hear, this will work on deer even though there are gaps that might be big enough for a deer to jump through. For good measure, I hung some garbage cds to provide shiny movement and distraction.
Two other views from inside the garden area, looking out over the terraced part:
Here’s my favorite piece: part fence, part art. This is a giant metal door hinge that R and I found at the dump. It’s got a kind of medieval look to it, with the horizontal straps that extend all the way across the door. I didn’t get to take it when we split up, but when I told him I had a use for it as a garden gate, he was kind enough to lend it to me on a long-term basis. I searched the junkyard for a lightweight interior door or screen to put in it, but found nothing suitable. (Not to mention that any solid door would have taken to the air with the first good wind gust). Finally I had an absolute brainstorm about what to put inside the hinge:
One of the things I like about the fence is the extent to which it’s cobbled together from stuff I already had or stuff I found. The white and brown pickets were all originally bought by me, but years ago for use at earlier homes. They were used as garden fence at R’s in a clever double-height scheme. The green pickets in the hinge were in place at the house I bought in 1996, but when I had a better fence built there, the pickets became part of my “stuff” that moved around with me. Some of the fenceposts were here on this property and I just relocated them. Others I bought new, and I might have brought a few from R’s. The branches, as I mentioned, were pruned off fruit trees here on the property. The orange twine was here on the property — a giant roll of it, sitting on the scrap lumber pile. Even the cds were repurposed — they come to the library where I work, one every month or two, and we use them to update the electronic card catalog. Once we’ve used them for the update, they’re trash — except that I’ve been saving them for months now, in anticipation of this use. And although I’m not showing off the garden itself yet, until I’ve removed some weeds and until things are growing a bit more, I will point out that the walkways you see in a few of the photos are made from cedar planks that were left over from that fancy fence I mentioned that I had built at another house. The cedar plank boards came in 6′ lengths, but for much of that project we could only have a 4′ high fence (building permit laws — back fence may be 6′ high, front and side yard fences can’t be more than 4′ — sheesh). Anyway, I saved all those 2′ lengths of cedar planking, through three moves now, and finally have found a use for them as garden walkways and weed suppressors.
So, overall, ten fenceposts was all that I bought new for this project. Oh, plus some bolts and nuts for attaching the door to the giant hinge, and the hinge to a fencepost. Not bad! As long as it works, that is, and the deer decide to admire it from afar only.
To make the garden also rabbitproof, I have some chicken wire I will staple along the pickets. That part of the project is coming up pretty soon.
