The Best Defense is a Good...Fence

Image Gallery ILLUSTRATIONS: BELLA HOLINGWORTH

Country Skills

Dr. Jack's amazingly easy and effective garden fence.

By Dr. Jack Pedersen

For years, Maggie would suddenly spring up from her snooze and demand to be let outside at once, for unknown dog reasons. When she died at 13 1 / 2 —antique for a Doberman—we were suddenly confronted with a herd of at least six does and a buck or to two that traveled our neighborhood, sampling at will. Besides the beans, beets, and tomato plants, we lost onions, garlic, strawberry plants, and even hot chilies, to blatant deer nibbling. They also ate the fruit trees and blueberry bushes. It became clear the old dog had, in fact been doing her job in keeping such critters away.

I had been searching over the years for the perfect wonder fence, one that would solve the problem of deer and other varmints making oft with the actual fruits of our labor. Every sample design I found had more disadvantages than advantages. The Bureau of Reclamation and the Forestry Service both had a wonderful, nearly indestructible design However, these violated several of my requirements. I wanted to build the most effective fence, at the lowest cost, with the least amount of labor— that wasn't ugly . Based upon my research over the years, and adding a few modifications of my own. I finally managed to come up with a winner It has stood the last three years against the combined efforts of rabbits, deer, dogs and cats, possum, raccoons, wild turkeys, pheasant, and the neighbors' chickens and goats.

Our garden spot is 50' by 50', giving us 2,500 square feet. This spot, along with multiple berry beds and fruit trees, produces enough to last the two of us through a year. We have seen what happens if the garden is left without protection. We have also seen the ugly home-construction fences that blight the countryside year-round. My fence can be taken down in about an hour at the end of the season and stored in a space smaller than a wheelbarrow. It goes up after final tilling in the spring in about an hour or two. If you site your posts properly, they can stay in the ground year round.