Keeping the Critters Out of the Garden

Steve putting up the garden fence. Photo by Jerry Apps     

    When I began vegetable gardening at our farm many years ago, my neighbor, Floyd Jeffers, who

 farmed across the road from me, warned that the critters would eat it all.  He was referring to the deer

 and turkeys, and he also mentioned that raccoons liked to prey on gardens as well, especially sweet

 corn.  What to do?  His answer, don’t grow a garden.  Not the answer I wanted.

            I asked around.  “Here’s what you do,” an old timer in the neighborhood said.  “String a wire around your garden.  Ask your barber to save a bunch of hair.  Put the hair in little plastic bags and hang them every three feet or so around on the fence.”  Sounded like a dumb idea.  It was.  The deer seemed attracted rather than discouraged from having at my struggling little vegetables.  Next idea, dump out the hair.  Fill the little plastic bags with mothballs.  I bought umpteen boxes of mothballs and did that.  Another dumb idea.  Deer seemed to like the smell of mothballs.

            I remembered what my dad did when I was a kid.  When he temporarily wanted to keep animals inside an enclosure, he put up an electric fence.  In a brief moment of thoughtful consideration, I said to my wife, Ruth, “I have the answer.”  She had been chuckling at my failed “keep out the critters” plans.

            “My dad put up an electric fence to keep animals in, wouldn’t the opposite work?” I said.  For many years we have surrounded our garden with a two-wire electric fence.  The top wire about four feet from the ground, the bottom wire about 10 inches.   No more critters in the garden.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Sometimes you have to turn your thinking upside down to find the right answer.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS:

To purchase my books, (Garden Wisdom has more about critters) go to your local bookstore, order online from bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org
If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books, including my new ones, or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.