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GARDENING TIPS HOME
MAIN HOME |
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How To Control Deer And Other Animals In
Your Garden |
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Remember one
of the biggest reasons we garden is to
grow delicious healthy chemical free
produce. If you try hard enough there is
usually a more organic approach to
dealing with critters in your garden.
Spraying chemical's and poisons on your
garden can lead to chemicals and poisons
leaching into the environment including
your own well water. Always research and
try an organic solution to your pest
problem first. One place to start is
Gardens Alive! These folks have a
catalog loaded with many organic
gardening products. They have found
ingenious organic solutions to almost
any garden pest you may encounter. I
really suggest starting there for
answers to your garden pest problems. |
Deer, raccoons, rabbits, skunks, moles,
dogs, cats have all played a role in
damaging my garden. They may cause damage at
different levels but it's never a good
thing. Deer were eating my beans and peas
and trampling my young plants. Raccoons were
eating my sweet corn. They know the very day
your sweet corn is ripe. This is no
exaggeration, they like sweet corn to be
ripe just like we do. Rabbits were eating my
greens, especially my lettuce. We all know
what moles do. Dogs trampled my garden and
cats liked to use the garden as a giant
kitty litter box. Notice how I used words in
past tense such as ate and trampled. I used
the words in past tense because my problem
with these garden pests is over. What did I
do? I put up an electric fence. This
solution is not exactly organic but it is
not chemical or poison.
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You probably are wondering how much money it
is going to cost to do this. Look at it like
this. How much do you spend on your garden
every year. Purchasing vegetable plants
alone cost us well over $100 per year. Then
there is the seeds, the tools and all your
other garden equipment. If it costs you $100
to put up an electric fence you are actually
saving money. Since you aren't buying plants
to feed the animal pests anymore you really
are saving. Not to mention all the hard
work, labor and thought you put into your
garden.
There are some things I would like top tell
you about putting up an electric fence. |
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To keep out rabbits, cats and other small
animals you will need to keep a couple wires
close to the ground. I have 4 hot wires
going around my fence. 2 close to the ground
one about midway for dogs and mid size pests
and one at the top for the deer. deer can
jump an electric fence but they almost seem
to sense the electricity because I haven't
had a problem since I put up that fence. I
do notice deer tracks in the garden once I
turn it off for the season.
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If you have an extremely high deer
population in your area you may have to put
up a taller fence. Deer won't jump an 8 foot
fence on a 65 degree angle facing away from
your garden. It takes some work to build a
fence like this but it works great. The
poles need extra supports and you will want
to use cedar or metal. This fence looks very
strange but it is an excellent way of
keeping those big garden pests at bay. Once
again this is an extreme measure and should
be considered if your electric fence fails.
Electric fences are not difficult to
install. The directions come in the power
supply box. Don't purchase a small cheapo
type of power supply. Get a weed burner or
you will find yourself taking a weed whip
around your garden constantly. |
This will cause trouble with your lower
wires and end up getting hung up all the time. I
use a 10 mile power supply on my 100 foot X 50
foot garden. This may sound like overkill but it
works great.
Remember electric fences won't seriously
hurt healthy people but they will pack a bit
of a jolt. If you have children make sure
they understand not to touch the fence.
Putting up a sign reminding friends and
family that the fence is hot is also a good
idea.
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About The Author:
Written By Steve Snyder
Visit my garden seed website. We offer high
quality fresh flower, vegetable and herb seed
for the home gardener.
Millington Seed Co
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