Building Fences

When we first met one of our next door neighbors, he promptly told me that his turkeys and deer were going to eat my garden. Apparently, he feeds the wild turkeys and deer that run through our neighborhood, thus making them his. Having a garden was one of the things I had most looked forward to when we were looking to buy a country home.Our home already had a garden when we bought it, and it took me days to clean it up (it was buried in dead grass and leaves), till it, and plant our fruits and vegetables. I was not going to let the deer, turkeys, et al. ruin my hard work. I had seen the tears and rage that tomato-eating squirrels had brought upon my parents and my in-laws. I would not be part of it. We needed to build a fence.

When you go to the Home Depot gardening center, the only fencing you see are cutesy decorative wire ones. Deer eat these for breakfast and then continue on to eat your tomatoes. I read that I would need a 7+ foot fence to keep deer out. A serious fence like this requires a serious trip to Tractor Supply (okay, you can buy this stuff at Home Depot in the fencing department, but Tractor Supply was having a sale). I bought some t-posts and a roll of 5ft high garden fencing. Each t-post came with four clips. The word clip made me think of a chip clip, and how easy are those to use? EASY.

Clips? I don't remember needing pliers to close my chip bag.

On fence building day, my husband and I busted out the heavy metal tube we had purchased for beating the posts into the ground. I'm sure the neighbors cursed us for purchasing the house as loud metallic clangs punctured the air at 9 in the morning on a Saturday. We put a post every 6ft (which is what you're supposed to do) and then rolled out the fencing around the posts. Then came the hard part. The "clips" we had been given were not clip-like at all, and we were at a loss to how these were supposed to hold the fencing against the t-post. 

Close but no cigar.

My husband (the engineer) eventually hacked the clips into submission with this arrangement------------------------------------------------>

Imagine the fence in between the two clips. While this was kind of keeping the fence against the post,  it was fairly loose. We finally admitted defeat and consulted the all-knowing You Tube. After watching a couple videos, we realized it only took one clip and a good pair of pliers. So much for calling it a clip. We put about two clips on each post, one at the top and one at the bottom, and called it a fence.

This is how you do it! Viva la You Tube!

We built the fence over a month ago, and so far, I have been the only living creature to harvest my garden. I'm hoping this continues because if not, we will have to start looking at electric fences.....

The finished product. Please don't judge my droopy pumpkin leaves. Kansas has been very hot recently. They were watered thoroughly after the photo shoot.