Garden vs Deer

A war has been started.

We started our garden earlier this spring by planting some rhubarb, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and lettuce in the first raised bed we put up in mid-April. It was not more than a couple of days before our friendly neighborhood deer decided to stop by for a nice snack.

The first casualty was the rhubarb...

Then the cauliflower...

We may have lost these battles, but we will not lose the war!

The results of the first deer drive by. They left a little for next week.

Knowing that if the deer took a couple of plants out every week, we'd end up shortly with nothing to show for our efforts. Fighting back was the only option! A fence had to be put up.

The area we live in doesn't seem to have a whole lot of rodents that could get into our garden. In fact, we have yet to see anything bigger than a field mouse on our property (RIP Stewart... a casualty of a bucket forgotten outside in freezing weather), so the priority in fencing has been mostly to fend against the deer.

Our choice - steel mesh fencing.

With just t-posts, a post setter, fencing, and a little hard work, steel mesh fencing allowed us to quickly customize the fence to the right shape and size we needed to fit our garden. Our decision on fencing would be a bit different if we had other small rodents like squirrels, rabbits, etc. Instead of fencing in the whole garden itself, chicken wire around the raised bed would be a more effective option.

Who knows!? We've only been here since January!