• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • r ranson
  • Jay Angler
  • paul wheaton
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Leigh Tate
  • Devaka Cooray
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Matt McSpadden
  • Jeremy VanGelder

I need SERIOUS garden fence ideas & resources

 
Posts: 13
5
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I'm going on three years where almost all of my garden has been eaten by various wildlife. I live in a woody, suburban neighborhood, but we have a lot of furry friends, it seems. I put out wildlife cameras and got pictures of woodchucks, skunks, raccoons, possums, porcupines, deer, and a few bears. My garden is not that big, let's say 300 x 200 feet. I'd rather not go electric, but maybe I need to consider it. I have a bunch of those green T-bar stakes (7 footers) and built up a fence of chicken wire and then I noticed there was a warning about lead, so I took it all down. I haven't really found any definitive info on whether one should worry about the lead in chicken wire, hardware cloth, etc., both of which are used often for these applications. Anyway, if you have ideas or can recommend a really good book or video about garden fences, please share. Thank you.
 
pollinator
Posts: 554
Location: Northwest Missouri
214
forest garden fungi gear trees plumbing chicken cooking ungarbage
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I am using 6 foot tall poly deer fence with 3 strands of electric outside to keep my chickens safe. But there's a rabbit that really really likes hanging out with the birds, so he's dug his way in. Good way to demonstrated that I need ground protection so I will be adding cattle panels to the inside of the fence and likely cutting off the bottom horizontal bar so that the panel has 6" spikes along the bottom to prevent burrowers. I imagine these 3 layers would work ok for you. Granted, woodchucks can burrow under an entire roadway so if they want in, they're getting in.
 
gardener
Posts: 1050
Location: Zone 6 in the Pacific Northwest
534
2
homeschooling hugelkultur kids forest garden foraging chicken cooking bee homestead
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
From what I've read, fences that you can't see through are your best bet for deer, and I would guess that would work for the bear if they didn't smell something they like through the fence.

You might eliminate some of the predation by little things if you did high raised beds, especially if you line the bottoms with wire.
 
gardener
Posts: 581
Location: Pembrokeshire, UK
434
2
dog forest garden gear fungi foraging trees building medical herbs woodworking homestead
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Wow, I had no idea that galv metals had so much lead in them. I use a galvanised watering can for my vegetables - and so many things are hot-dipped: fences, gates, railings, etc. I might need to invest in a stainless watering can for edibles...
 
steward
Posts: 16099
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4280
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Over the years, I have seen some pretty amazing things that folks have done to keep deer from their gardens.

Somewhere on the forum is a picture of an amazing string fence though I can't find it.

https://permies.com/t/40/2376/keeping-deer-stuff#74007

Then there has been discussion about fishing line fences that work similarly to the string fence.

https://permies.com/t/7921/Fishing-line-deer

Maybe something like this with the string or fishing line:

https://permies.com/t/140079/Wavy-Deer-Fence

Or this pallet fence:

https://permies.com/t/109675/Pallet-zig-zag-fence-multiple
 
You totally ruined the moon. You're gonna hafta pay for that you know. This tiny ad agrees:
turnkey permaculture paradise for zero monies
https://permies.com/t/267198/turnkey-permaculture-paradise-monies
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic