Erecting garden fence in the country

[kubota4me]

Okay, I live in an area where there are tons of deer. I plan on erecting an 8 ft fence with 4x4 green treated posts and wrapped with deer fence and then with probably chicken wire around the deer fence on the bottom to keep out small critters. I have a couple of questions. I plan on having raised beds on the inside so my back and I will still get along after a season of gardening.

(1) How close do the fence posts need to be for my garden to stand the test of time?

(2) Given my raised bed will be about 24" tall, would 2" x 12" x 10 feet green treated give me a nice bed using angle brackets that would stay intact?

I only want to do this once and if I can get 20 years out of it, I would be happy. With the price of food going up and organic even higher, I want to lean towards being more self-sufficient. I've only been living on my 16 acres for a year now, but I love it more every day. And I really appreciate owning a Kubota L4400. I only wish I had more implements for it now, but slowly but surely, I will pick those off in due time. Thanks for your feedback.

 

[bp fick]

We use Poly Deer fencing. Around 1000 feet of it, I guess. The spacing of our poles is 12 feet, but one could easily go 15 feet.

Not sure using treated lumber for the raised beds is technically Kosher for organic gardening, but I'll leave that for you to think through.

We do not use the raised bed system.

Anyhow, this week will be the week I go set the poles again and string the netting. We just ziptie the netting to the poles. Works great. We go through the bother of taking the netting down at season's end. We want the netting to last and don't need it up the 7 months of off-season getting UV rays.

 

[SPIKER]

I use Electric Fence at my place in the past. Deer already know what it is and will stay away... It works best when you do a dual fence one fence and a 2nd inside the first about 4' away. I lean the outside fence OUT towards the woods or yard and the inside fence in towards the garden. the deer see the fence and will see the inner fence (I use string for inner fence they dont know it is not LIVE and see it as just as ZAPPY as the real outer electric fence. I also run several strands right down against the grass to keep out the rabbits and wood chucks and neighbors dang dogs that run wild all time...


it saved a LOT of Cash this way and is easily done fast up/down and in case one gets zapped will not wrap up a deer making them hurt themselves. that leaves ME free to hurt them come fall and if they manage eat some of my beans that means they are nice & fat for my enjoyment come winter
Mark

 

[NorTracNY]

I'd rethink the treated lumber. Also that's a lot of soil to put in to raise the beds 24". Over several years that soil will naturally compact. How will you fight that? Will you be able to stand up on the beds and use a broadfork?

 

[Chuck52]

My raised beds are 4x25' made from cinder blocks. I added compost and rotted manure to my already pretty good soil. The fence is 5' 2x4 welded wire with a single strand of electric rope above the fence. That keeps out all but the smallest rabbits, and coons. The coons climb the fence sure enough, but then they have to touch the hot wire and the main fence is grounded....zap. Deer could jump it easily, but I nailed some 1x2 slats to the posts (at 8' spacing) and run something like marking tape or nylon twine with flags on it at about 7' up. I guess the deer could jump that, but they don't. I have pretty heavy deer population here in mid Missouri, and very heavy coon population. Last year the sweet corn was safe behind that fence, and last time I had sweet corn with no barrier the coons completely stripped it. The wire and fence posts should last for years. I do replace the visual barrier marking tape or twine, but I could probably run a permanent wire up there and just replace flags when needed I suppose.

Chuck

 

[jinman]

I don't know how agressive the deer are in your area, but here they are no problem with the 7' netting as BP Fick uses. The netting is so lightweight that you don't need a strong post. Many/most farm supply stores sell 8' t-posts. You can put these into the ground up to the flange and they are perfect for the netting because it just has to be snug, not tight like stock fencing. If you had cattle, horses, or other livestock, you would need a more substantial fence. With the netting fence, you can take a section or two down easily on one side and get in the garden to till with your tractor. I do that every springtime. Unlike BP, we just leave our fencing up all the time except for access in the springtime and have seen no UV deterioraton. Because the fencing is almost invisible, it doesn't make an eyesore unless you let weeds grow along the fenceline.

You can add the chicken wire and roll up the section where you need access just like the deer fencing. You might want short stakes for the chicken wire, but for the deer fencing, you can space your posts easily at 12' and stretch the netting between them.

 

[Lloyd_E]

I have tried a number of things over the years. Electric fence, 8' page wire etc. Both failed.
We can have up to 22 deer(highest count) at a time on our property so it is always a challenge. Because we live in a 200 year old house and I am interested in period design, I started this project two years ago after returning from Williamsburg. The section in the photo is 30'x20' approximately. I am finishing the main section now - it is 80'x35'.

We had no issues for the last two years. It's a lot of work but it works. And I guess history confirms that.

Lloyd

 

[lockhaven]

use electric for deer, but you have to put the posts in correctly. have them leaning out at about a 15 degree off vertical contrary to popular belief most deer will try and go under rather then over with a vertical fence they figure out to jump. Leaning out they put their heads under the top line and hit the second and so forth. To keep out squirrels and rabbits you need to place plastic edging around the garden then place the electric wire on top of the edging then about 2 inches apart for the first 8 inches. we do this and keep out everything.

 

[DKCDKC]

Some folks around here swear by the electric fence, but usually put some aluminum foil with honey and peanut butter on it at intervals. The deer hit that and learn quickly.

My garden has ordinary hog fence around it. My three dogs and one tough tomcat take care of critters most of the time. In the last five years, only one squirrel got in and out safely.

The dogs discourage the deer as well, as does the fact that I allow hunting on my land. However, I know old timers up in the mountains with gardens who swear that having all the males in the family take leaks routinely several yards from the garden keeps out the deer without fencing or anything. Weird, but makes sense.

 

[forgeblast]

Awesome fence, what type of wood is that lloyd?