Your garden is a safe haven, maybe for you and certainly for whatever is growing there. If you are looking forward to juicy watermelon, snappy sweet peas, or burgeoning dahlias this summer, it’s important to protect your garden with the proper garden fencing. This keeps out unwanted animal visitors and ensures that your garden can grow to its full potential.

The Right Fence for You

Before you install your garden fencing, you’ll need to acknowledge what factors threaten your garden. In this way, you can determine the best kind of fencing and material to keep your space safe. If you have a little roof garden in a metropolitan area, deer are probably not going to be your biggest concern. On the other hand, if you live at the base of the mountain and have no other fencing around your yard, planning for Bambi and his friends should be your first concern.  

Using Garden Fencing to Fend off Animals

Located in Utah as we are, we’re going to spend a good amount of time talking about how to use garden fencing to keep out the animals. They are most likely to be the biggest threat to your garden, but there are preventatives depending on the kind of interloper. The key is to build the fence to fit the animals in the area.   

If you are worried about deer, your garden fencing must be high to keep them from jumping over it and close to the ground so they don’t force themselves through any low gaps. Before you build a tall fence, make sure the fence-building ordinances of your area don’t prohibit doing so. Deer won’t be your biggest worry if you break local building codes.

If you are concerned about other woodland animals (like raccoons and possums), the trick is to work smarter, not harder. These nocturnal trespassers have sensitive feet and become agitated by things that cling to their toes. Bird netting placed strategically on the ground around your garden fencing is a great preventative for the otherwise wily animals.

If your garden is threatened by diggers like dogs and rabbits, you’ll want to extend your fence down into the ground. This doesn’t necessarily mean to add a foot of wood or vinyl below the surface—a chicken wire apron works just fine. Install the chicken wire going down 6–24 inches at an angle or a curve to dissuade any subterranean entry.

Use Quality Materials

Nothing says quality like quality, and if you really want to protect your produce or other plants, don’t skimp on the material of your garden fencing. Keep in mind as you choose your decorative styles that if the animals can see what the fence is guarding, they’ll be more determined to get at them. This can be a tricky thing to maneuver if you want to be able to see your garden, but there are always work-arounds.

Electric Fencing

Electric fences aren’t for everyone, but they can be the most effective kind of garden fencing. They run more expensive than other kinds of fencing because they are subtle and get the job done. For most animals, one experience with an electric fence is enough to deter them forever. While keeping all fences maintained is important, doing so is critical for the efficacy of an electric fence. Debris on the fence can lessen the charge, and if growing plant life is in contact with an electric fence, the charge is likely to be grounded, rendering it ineffective.

Set in Stone or Just for Now

If your garden is only occasionally at risk, you may not need a whole garden fence to protect it. Depending on what threatens your plants, draping chicken wire or a plastic mesh over them may be sufficient. If rabbits or other rodents are the problem, however, plastic won’t keep them out. They’ll chew right through it. Wire mesh will also need to be moved as the plants grow or as you harvest, so if convenience is a priority, a more permanent structure is likely a better fit for you.

Decorative Garden Fencing

If you take all the necessary precautions into consideration, then you have a lot of freedom when it comes to designing the fence for your garden. If your property is already surrounded by a fence, you might want to make your garden fencing an extension of that style. Doing so gives a sense of unity, but it can also be fun to shake things up.

A classic white picket fence lends a cottage-esque kind of charm to any garden, and it can be achieved in one of two ways. Traditional and environmentally-conscious picket fences are made with painted wood, but vinyl can create a similar look that is more impervious to weather and insects.

For more visual interest, consider latticework in whatever material you choose. Wood is common, but bamboo is unique and exotic. If you plant to grow vine plants, wire mesh may have the same effect but offer more stability. The truth is that you have an overwhelming number of choices when it comes to garden fencing, so if you need help deciding or installing, come see us at Bronco Fence today.