The kids love their garden and so do the deer, raccoons and other critters. Big P decided to fence the garden so hopefully we might get a tomato or two out of all this work. The green mesh fence was purchased online. The wooden base was made of 2 x8 planks and the vertical posts are 2 x4s from the Home Depot.
The vertical posts were left long because we are thinking about enclosing the garden during the fall and winter months. How are you protecting your garden from the critters?
We have an enclosed backyard, thankfully, so it’s only small to micro critters I battle with my light saber. I use a bottle of diluted cayenne pepper and spray the ground around each plant and on some of the leaves from each type of plant. That works wonders. No animal likes their nose to burn like it’s been hit by a thousand suns. So far, so good. 🙂
Stacerella – thanks for the tip. I think my neighbor in Brooklyn is doing something similar to keep the feral cats away…but is using chili pepper.
Stacerella sent me to see your fencing solution. That might actually work for me as the vegetable portion of my garden is only about that size anyway. Go check out the picture of the deer here on my blog.
We have major deer issues here too. Years ago, we planted hostas which we thought would work in our shady yard. I still remember the neighbors laughing at us city folk for planting deer food!
I generally tent chicken wire over the hostas until the leaves unfurl. The deer just bite the rolled leaves off if I don’t, and that does not make a very attractive display for the rest of the season. Last year, however, after being here for 35 years, they suddenly decided that hosta leaves taste good even when fully opened, and they stripped my biggest hosta down to nothing but stems. Irish Spring soap, cut into about 4 pieces and speared on garden stakes, then placed so the soap is just barely above the leaves of the plant you want to protect works really well. The soap does not seem to hurt the plants any, during rainstorms, and each piece lasts all season long. It actually looks good in the garden. People just think you have put candles out there.
I just told my husband about your “Irish Spring” technique. Thanks Yabut, we are going to try that.
adding fence is really a good idea. Thank you for sharing this.