Does Your Garden Need A Fence?

"Your Garden Bursts With Flowers, Plants, And Vegetables... Even If You've Never Gardened Before!" Click here to know more about The Gardener's Handbook

Imagine that one morning you woke up and found you garden has been raided and all your plants have been destroy by garden raiders.The worst garden raiders include deer, rabbits, skunks, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, dogs, cats, woodchucks, opossums and not to forget, humans too. However the location of your garden location determines which of these animals are your main garden raiders. You can protect your garden by instaling a fence. It is the primary ways to keep animals out of your garden. Fences also provide a way to overcome space limitations in the garden. Fences are also used to support certain climbing crops, including pole snap and lima beans, peas, cucumbers, small melons, squash, and even some pumpkins. You even tie tomato plants to fences. Instead of spreading horizontally, such crops encompass vertical space, freeing up gardening space for other crops. The goal is to find the ideal, all-purpose fence suitable for both protection from small animals and support of climbing crops. Fences used to surround and protect crops that appeal to animals, such as corn and salad crops, may also support climbing crops that animals don't molest. The location of the fence, the kinds of animals present, and the other available food sources determine how effective the fence will be. The only sure way to know if the fence works is to try it, or as the scientist would say, experiment.

Determine what kind of fence you need

You first have to determine what kinds of animals find your garden attractive. For example, deer can be troublesome in rural areas, because they can damage vegetables and shrubbery. To deter them you need a high fence. Little pests like rabbits and woodchucks can dig under fences, so to keep them out you need a fence that goes underground. Woodchucks are double trouble because they can climb; for them you need some sort of anti-climbing device on top of the fence, as well as an underground extension. Other notorious climbers include squirrels, raccoons, and opossums. You can easily discourage dogs and cats by using fences; but human garden vandals are the most challenging lot. They may respond to education or the passage of time but certainly not to fences, unless the fences are barbed wire or electric.

Examine your garden's location.

Some location factors reduce the garden's need for protection. For example, city gardens are not usually troubled by animal pests, but the odds that animals will invade the garden increase in the suburbs, and increase still more in country gardens. However, exceptions do exist. If you live in a the city, you too could have frequent garden visitors, including skunks, raccoons, opossums, and squirrels. This could happen if you live short distance from a park. However, you can still grow climbing crops on your fence because these animals seems to have other food preferences. However, if their alternative natural food supplies decreased, you could have trouble.

Determine if the fence is to be permanent or temporary.

Both cases have their pros and cons. The joy of permanence is that you do the job once and don't have to repeat it. The problem is a lack of flexibility and aesthetics. For example, if you use permanent fencing, it becomes difficult to change the size or shape of your garden. Also, you may not want to look out your window in winter to see a stark, forbidding fence looming out of a snow drift. On the other hand, the annual erection and removal of temporary fences involve a lot of labor and frustration, besides the fact that you may not have the storage space for your fences.

You may reprint or distribute this article as long as you leave the content and the
resource box at the end intact. This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 6th, 2007 at 11.40pm

Copyright © www.g8stuff.com 2007 - All Rights Reserved