Do you use your tractor in a fenced in Garden?

[DJ54]

I put a 4 strand electric fence around my 90' X 120' garden to keep Deer, 'Coon, and Groundhogs out. I leave around 10' inside the fence to turn around on each end. I work up the ground with my IH 140/130 and sometimes disk with the Farmall Super C. I leave 20' on each end for potatoes, so I have room to turn with the planter, hillers on the 140, and potato digger. Cultivating is done with either my David Bradley 2-wheeler, or the Wheel Horses.

Before resorting to electric fence, I used to plant a hedge row of Sunflowers around the perimeter of the garden, planting 10-12 rows in a 3' wide space. I read an article 10 years or so ago, on how to keep Deer out of your garden. Writer had planted a hedge fence of Sunflowers around his garden, and it worked. Deer will not jump over something it cannot see the other side of. It did work very well once they got tall enough. Seed is rather inexpensive if you buy a 2 lb. bag of bird seed Sunflowers. I got a bag of the tall white stripers, and a bag of the shorter black oilers to make a thick hedge fence. I makes a great looking border too, got many comments on it, although nearly everyone was surprised when I told them exactly why they were there.

Up until the point the Sunflowers get high enough they cannot see over, I was reading on certain scents to keep Deer out. They don't like the scent of Marigolds, Nasturtiums, or Lavender. Last year I started 100 Marigolds, and Nasturtiums in trays. I used bulb auger to set them. Took about 2 hours to set them all. For the Lavender, I bought a quart of Lavender oil from Amazon. 2 TBS. added to a gallon of water is sufficient. I use Spinosad, and organic rated insecticide, and just add to the mix. And several times in between, just mixed oil, water, and some Castille soap as a surfactant. Even came across some store brand Lavender scented Castille soap. This is mostly used on the cabbage, and other waxy leaved plants so it will stick. Dusting plants with garden/dolomitic lime works too, but takes time, and needs to be reapplied after a rain. I found spraying with the Lavender oil is quicker, and enough scent remains after a rain to keep them from eating on plants, until I can get back in to spray after a rain.

All of the above work for me and may be a little more work than some may care to put forth, but the Deer population has exploded here in the last 10 years, and I had to do something. 60 years ago when I was a kid, it was a rare sight to see a Deer. With a 300 acre apple orchard 1/2 mile away on one side, and a Metro Park 1/2 mile away on the other side, it's like an Interstate through here now, with Deer travelling back and forth. It's a pretty common sight to see 20 Deer a day passing through just before dusk, and 8-10 bedding down in my small hay field at night. Too many houses around now to shoot them, so went with these alternatives.

 

[ning]

I put a 4 strand electric fence around my 90' X 120' garden to keep Deer, 'Coon, and Groundhogs out. I leave around 10' inside the fence to turn around on each end. I work up the ground with my IH 140/130 and sometimes disk with the Farmall Super C. I leave 20' on each end for potatoes, so I have room to turn with the planter, hillers on the 140, and potato digger. Cultivating is done with either my David Bradley 2-wheeler, or the Wheel Horses.

Before resorting to electric fence, I used to plant a hedge row of Sunflowers around the perimeter of the garden, planting 10-12 rows in a 3' wide space. I read an article 10 years or so ago, on how to keep Deer out of your garden. Writer had planted a hedge fence of Sunflowers around his garden, and it worked. Deer will not jump over something it cannot see the other side of. It did work very well once they got tall enough. Seed is rather inexpensive if you buy a 2 lb. bag of bird seed Sunflowers. I got a bag of the tall white stripers, and a bag of the shorter black oilers to make a thick hedge fence. I makes a great looking border too, got many comments on it, although nearly everyone was surprised when I told them exactly why they were there.

Up until the point the Sunflowers get high enough they cannot see over, I was reading on certain scents to keep Deer out. They don't like the scent of Marigolds, Nasturtiums, or Lavender. Last year I started 100 Marigolds, and Nasturtiums in trays. I used bulb auger to set them. Took about 2 hours to set them all. For the Lavender, I bought a quart of Lavender oil from Amazon. 2 TBS. added to a gallon of water is sufficient. I use Spinosad, and organic rated insecticide, and just add to the mix. And several times in between, just mixed oil, water, and some Castille soap as a surfactant. Even came across some store brand Lavender scented Castille soap. This is mostly used on the cabbage, and other waxy leaved plants so it will stick. Dusting plants with garden/dolomitic lime works too, but takes time, and needs to be reapplied after a rain. I found spraying with the Lavender oil is quicker, and enough scent remains after a rain to keep them from eating on plants, until I can get back in to spray after a rain.

All of the above work for me and may be a little more work than some may care to put forth, but the Deer population has exploded here in the last 10 years, and I had to do something. 60 years ago when I was a kid, it was a rare sight to see a Deer. With a 300 acre apple orchard 1/2 mile away on one side, and a Metro Park 1/2 mile away on the other side, it's like an Interstate through here now, with Deer travelling back and forth. It's a pretty common sight to see 20 Deer a day passing through just before dusk, and 8-10 bedding down in my small hay field at night. Too many houses around now to shoot them, so went with these alternatives.

My deer fence wasn't up yet when I planted my sunflowers last year. They made sure the sunflowers didn't get high enough to be a barrier for them... completely destroyed them.
This year's crop should be good as now I've got an effective fence to keep them out...

 

[DJ54]

Deer have browsed on the Sunflowers, but that's about it here. I had more problems with one particular doe eating ripe heirloom tomatoes off the plants. Apparently liked those better than the hybrids. The hybrids she'd pull off the vine, then drop them on the ground. Hoof prints, and teeth marks gave her away. THAT'S when the electric fence went up.

Last year I was pleased enough using the Lavender oil I seriously considered taking the electric fence down but will try it again this year to be sure. The only problem with that is getting into spray another dose if we get heavy rains for a few days and it's too muddy to walk out there.

 

[Sonny580]

my 4.5 acre garden is fenced with standard woven wire,---had to do that to keep coyotes out,--- they destroyed the sweetcorn one year. deer dont jump the fence, too lazy I guess. ---got lucky on that.

 

[Mart5130]

I have a ck3510. Our garden is 48x32 and I wish it was bigger. It is fenced in with gates at both ends. It is a pain but I keep the loader up high when turning around using a 3point 60” tiller. I wish I had put larger gates

Exact same set up I have except 48x48. Yep it’s a pain to till but doable

 

[DJ54]

Update on experimenting on using Peppermint extract to deter Deer in the garden. If others are debating about putting up a fence to keep Deer out, I may have come across a less expensive solution to the problem I read about several years ago on a gardening forum.

I left the gate ways open in the garden this Summer and was diligent about keeping up with spraying peppermint extract (only 2 TBS. per gallon of water) on plants this year and am 100% convinced it works. Enough my electric fence came down this Fall. No more weed eating around the fence, gained back some row length, and turn around room. I never even turned the fence on this year for the final test. No damage from Deer or Groundhogs all Summer, and I have a BUNCH around here..!!. On cabbage I didn't directly spray on the plants, but rather around them on the plant on the dirt or mulch when they started heading up. I most generally mix it in with sprays to save spraying it on alone.

Least expensive I found 3 years ago in bulk was a quart from Olive Nation Pure Spearmint Extract At that time it was $18.99 a quart. It has gone up since then like everything else, but I still have over 1/4 of that quart left and I sprayed everything every 10 days or so all Summer. Even gave a couple friends approx. 4 oz. out of the bottle to try, so it goes a long way. Hoof prints galore through the garden, but never even offered to browse on anything. Before, Beets & beans were eaten to the ground. Numerous tomato plants damaged, and tomatoes pulled from the vines. Couldn't even think about planting sweet corn.

Right now they are offering 25% off, so think I will order another quart.

If you're contemplating putting up fence of any kind, you may want to consider this. After getting what I wanted off the garden and pretty well saturated people with give aways I quit spraying. 1 row of tomatoes were still pretty and green along with a couple short rows of green beans. I kept an eye on them, and it took approx. 6 weeks before the Deer started to eat plants.

Picture below is a row of Beets I grew for some friends to can up. Pretty proud of those because in the past Deer would eat them off at the ground long before reaching this stage.

They have various sized bottles of the extract if you want to experiment yourself. You can always start with a smaller bottle and if it works get a larger one. I would really like to see others try it and see if it works for them too.

 

[rScotty]

Update on experimenting on using Peppermint extract to deter Deer in the garden. If others are debating about putting up a fence to keep Deer out, I may have come across a less expensive solution to the problem I read about several years ago on a gardening forum.

I left the gate ways open in the garden this Summer and was diligent about keeping up with spraying peppermint extract (only 2 TBS. per gallon of water) on plants this year and am 100% convinced it works. Enough my electric fence came down this Fall. No more weed eating around the fence, gained back some row length, and turn around room. I never even turned the fence on this year for the final test. No damage from Deer or Groundhogs all Summer, and I have a BUNCH around here..!!. On cabbage I didn't directly spray on the plants, but rather around them on the plant on the dirt or mulch when they started heading up. I most generally mix it in with sprays to save spraying it on alone.

Least expensive I found 3 years ago in bulk was a quart from Olive Nation Pure Spearmint Extract At that time it was $18.99 a quart. It has gone up since then like everything else, but I still have over 1/4 of that quart left and I sprayed everything every 10 days or so all Summer. Even gave a couple friends approx. 4 oz. out of the bottle to try, so it goes a long way. Hoof prints galore through the garden, but never even offered to browse on anything. Before, Beets & beans were eaten to the ground. Numerous tomato plants damaged, and tomatoes pulled from the vines. Couldn't even think about planting sweet corn.

Right now they are offering 25% off, so think I will order another quart.

If you're contemplating putting up fence of any kind, you may want to consider this. After getting what I wanted off the garden and pretty well saturated people with give aways I quit spraying. 1 row of tomatoes were still pretty and green along with a couple short rows of green beans. I kept an eye on them, and it took approx. 6 weeks before the Deer started to eat plants.

Picture below is a row of Beets I grew for some friends to can up. Pretty proud of those because in the past Deer would eat them off at the ground long before reaching this stage.

They have various sized bottles of the extract if you want to experiment yourself. You can always start with a smaller bottle and if it works get a larger one. I would really like to see others try it and see if it works for them too.

I wonder if that would work sprayed onto rags and tucked under the hood of the tractor to keep mice away.... Or would it attract them?

For the garden I just use an electric wire and fence charger. Have not tried that on the tractor... the tires would insulate the metal from the ground so that part is easy, but a mouse would have to be tall enough to touch the tractor body and the ground at the same time to get shocked. A mouse the size of a deer..... or a bear. Scary thought.
rScotty

 

[5030]

I am planning on a fairly large garden. Because I live in a psychotic State the Deer are like zombie hoards and you can't do anything to deter them that might offend Bambi or the soccer moms so I gotta put in a fence.
Therein lies the Rub
I think I should fence in a rather large area My Tractor is a Kioti DK 47. my gardening implements are a Howard Rotovator and a Dearborn two bottom 14" plow and a Tuffline subsoiler. I don't have a disk I'm thinking the rotovator will do just fine. I plan on building a hiller for a tool bar I bought.

Back to the fence. I am struggling with the idea of a tractor in a fenced-in area. I'm thinking I need to leave a fair bit of mown grass around the actual garden. How do you address the need to be able to turn your rig around and use it in the fenced in garden?

Won't fit. Not enough turn radius to be any good.

 

[rScotty]

Won't fit. Not enough turn radius to be any good.

That's right. turning loses productivity even in large fields. For your use see if you can put gates on both ends with standard detatchable hooks for the electric fence. You can even use pressed steel gates. Those are cheap, open fully, and commonly available in 8 & 12 foot sizes. In ag country there are always piles available used at restore shops or 2nd hand gardening places. Then you can drive through. More work at the beginning but much better thereafter. You gain convenience and more usable ground. And if you don't like it, there is no downside.
Good luck,
rScotty

 

[5030]

I own a nice rear tine tiller, actually have 2.