As I mentioned, the woodchuck is back. Because of him/her/them, last summer we harvested only some shiso, a few small tomatoes, and I made 5 pints of dilled green tomato pickles because… well, after all, “How much wood can a woodcuck chuck?” Not much apparently, though no end of tomatoes, chard, peas, amaranth, and even marigolds.We need a woodchuck defense—a fence defense—as in a fence which is too tall to climb, with the bottom buried and curling out away from the delectable garden. We can outsmart them: when they dig down they will be convinced it’s not the route to fresh produce.
Bad pun warning: Mr. Tess suggested that we go to the Sword-Fighting Store. What??!!!
…for fencing.
First we (ahem! he) dug a trench about 2 feet away from the raised bed where the bottom of the fence will be bent horizontally then buried to discourage natural instincts of some to dig.
Then set in some corner posts.
Use an extra heavy piece of square steel tube, welded with handles to “hammer” those posts deep into the earth. Well, deep enough anyway to hold up a light-weight fence and not much of a dent into our planet.
Design flaw: the handles would be more efficient if placed in the center rather that near the bottom to make the weight of this tool work more in your favor.
Unroll the wire-grid roll of fencing, to wrap around 2 sides (plus a couple more feet on each end) of this garden. It’s lightweight, but still unwieldy and heavy enough. Mark the corners with a permanent Sharpie marker. Cut the corners so about 8 to 12-inchens of the bottom can be bent out horizontally.
Drag the material into place. Curly wire fence material is not graceful, nor does it slide or drag easily.
Repeat to cover the remaining 2 sides of the garden.
And now you are wondering how, if the woodchucks can’t get into this planting, how will we?
 Please click this picture to read the story of the blue kisses. |
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