I've always done or thought of the trench idea. This alternative is awesome and super smart! I'm gonna try this as I have rabbits jumping through my mesh fence 👍👍
Awesome. Best advice for how to just turn the fencing out into the yard. I've been dreading digging a trench for years. I like the milk snake buddy too.
I don't know why everyone wants to dig down straight. If they can't dig through it vertical they can't when it's laying on the ground and flaring it out puts it right where they want to dig so they give up sooner. I use the same method in my chicken run.
Excellent approach. Works for coons and possums getting into your chickens as well! Over here on the west side of Michigan we have a veritable nation of woodchucks living on our property. The only time they give me trouble is when they get under the slab of my garage or barn. I use humane traps baited with a yellow plastic electric fence insulator. For some reason they simply love yellow plastic fence insulators. Once trapped, they are relocated to the State Game Area.
I do employ this for the chickens as well. I no longer grow corn due to raccoons. They waited until about 200 plants had ears then knocked every one down and took a bite 😂
@@FastGardeningMichigan Yea, them little trash pandas are a pain in the bucket. I grew corn once........ once. It tapped my soil so hard I had to double up on N rich compost the next year, and the amount of corn I got outta that patch made me think hard about ever growing it again. Beets, turnips, rudabagas, taters, give me more starch per square foot. Also, if you want to grow something tall and green and tasty, try okra! I had two 30' rows side by side and they formed a green tunnel. I easily got 6lbs. a picking, and picked twice a week. Pickled okra, fried okra, grilled, okra, okra soup, okra quiche, okra, okra, okra.
I had a 38 inch tall (4 x 8 x 16 in cinder block garden wall), but I saw a jackrabbit jump that wall. So I added another 12 inches higher with garden wire secured to steel stakes against top area of my cinder block wall. At 50 inches tall now, a rabbit is not gonna jump it now. 😂
We use our best judgment, then adapt if we must. I find that true with everything gardening related. Eventually we find a solution even if it takes a few tries. It's an immediate annoyance, but there's a great satisfaction that comes with achieving success.
I feed chipmunks. They have never gone in my garden. Squirrels have. They don't eat the veggies. They just take bites and throw them in the lawn. Peanuts keep my garden mine. And all the animals are happy. No snakes employed.
The chipmunks wait until I open my garage and run in to feed in the compost barrel. I have thousands of them. They don't bother me. The tunneling is a little annoying under plants but I can deal with that
Ground hogs WILL climb the fence. not all of them but one will and that is enough to wipe out anything in the garden at least once a year here in PA. I could not figure it out and finally caught one on trail cam climbing. that was a 5 ft fence. This year I was gone for a while so I moved my garden to the deck and then a 4 ft wooden garden I bot at HD. they climbed the deck and then climbed into the deck garden. They were seen in the planter. UGH
The Michigan groundhogs are not as agile. I watch them try to climb but they don't know what to do when they get close to the top. Leaving my gate open is a different story.. 10 minutes of a few baby chucks took out the tops of a lot of brassicas but they grew back stronger.
I have a different approach have a hart traps and a 22 this way you can still get the tiller in to get rid of weeds I have been around the farm for over 50 years there is no ground hog worth keeping
I've always done or thought of the trench idea. This alternative is awesome and super smart! I'm gonna try this as I have rabbits jumping through my mesh fence 👍👍
I use this to protect my chickens as well. Grass grows through so I can mow and you'd never know it was there unless you're an animal digging
@FastGardeningMichigan what stakes do you recommend and how many every so feet?
@75shadystorm every 10 feet I use round wood fence posts buried 18". Cementing the corner posts helps pull the chicken wire tight
Thank you so much for showing people how to coexist & still grow a bountiful garden. Awesome video!!!
I think they're cute. They can't be to blame if you build a buffet and they eat it! Simple fencing works
Good advice! We have our garden fenced and rarely get anything in there. "Whistle pig" I like it!
Only thing that gets in is the raccoons
Awesome. Best advice for how to just turn the fencing out into the yard. I've been dreading digging a trench for years. I like the milk snake buddy too.
I don't know why everyone wants to dig down straight. If they can't dig through it vertical they can't when it's laying on the ground and flaring it out puts it right where they want to dig so they give up sooner. I use the same method in my chicken run.
Been warring with Wood chucks, grounds hogs as we say NJ, I need to up my game next year.
They still haven't figured out how to pass the chicken wire fence!
Great video! One question - how do you prevent digging under the gate?
The gate has a 2x4 under it screwed to the vertical posts. I put fencing on the ground and secured to the 2x4
Excellent approach. Works for coons and possums getting into your chickens as well! Over here on the west side of Michigan we have a veritable nation of woodchucks living on our property. The only time they give me trouble is when they get under the slab of my garage or barn. I use humane traps baited with a yellow plastic electric fence insulator. For some reason they simply love yellow plastic fence insulators. Once trapped, they are relocated to the State Game Area.
I do employ this for the chickens as well. I no longer grow corn due to raccoons. They waited until about 200 plants had ears then knocked every one down and took a bite 😂
@@FastGardeningMichigan Yea, them little trash pandas are a pain in the bucket. I grew corn once........ once. It tapped my soil so hard I had to double up on N rich compost the next year, and the amount of corn I got outta that patch made me think hard about ever growing it again. Beets, turnips, rudabagas, taters, give me more starch per square foot. Also, if you want to grow something tall and green and tasty, try okra! I had two 30' rows side by side and they formed a green tunnel. I easily got 6lbs. a picking, and picked twice a week. Pickled okra, fried okra, grilled, okra, okra soup, okra quiche, okra, okra, okra.
@@r.c.c.3871 I've got Okra growing. Lots of soil abuse for an ear of corn I can buy dirt cheap at the farmer's market lol
@@FastGardeningMichigan Hey do you grow Senna or Bocking 14?
@@r.c.c.3871 I have Bocking 14, Bocking 4, and True Comfrey. No senna. I'll have to look into that
I had a 38 inch tall (4 x 8 x 16 in cinder block garden wall), but I saw a jackrabbit jump that wall. So I added another 12 inches higher with garden wire secured to steel stakes against top area of my cinder block wall. At 50 inches tall now, a rabbit is not gonna jump it now. 😂
We use our best judgment, then adapt if we must. I find that true with everything gardening related. Eventually we find a solution even if it takes a few tries. It's an immediate annoyance, but there's a great satisfaction that comes with achieving success.
how wide is your fence on ground? I was hoping 12 inches would be ok. Is yours wider than 12 inches?
In some spots it comes out a little less than 12". They always go right up to the fence to dig and end up hitting the wire and giving up
I feed chipmunks. They have never gone in my garden. Squirrels have. They don't eat the veggies. They just take bites and throw them in the lawn. Peanuts keep my garden mine. And all the animals are happy. No snakes employed.
The chipmunks wait until I open my garage and run in to feed in the compost barrel. I have thousands of them. They don't bother me. The tunneling is a little annoying under plants but I can deal with that
Ground hogs WILL climb the fence. not all of them but one will and that is enough to wipe out anything in the garden at least once a year here in PA. I could not figure it out and finally caught one on trail cam climbing. that was a 5 ft fence. This year I was gone for a while so I moved my garden to the deck and then a 4 ft wooden garden I bot at HD. they climbed the deck and then climbed into the deck garden. They were seen in the planter. UGH
The Michigan groundhogs are not as agile. I watch them try to climb but they don't know what to do when they get close to the top. Leaving my gate open is a different story.. 10 minutes of a few baby chucks took out the tops of a lot of brassicas but they grew back stronger.
Awe man!
Brutal, our NJ ground hogs are mighty diggers, next year!
I have a different approach have a hart traps and a 22 this way you can still get the tiller in to get rid of weeds I have been around the farm for over 50 years there is no ground hog worth keeping
We are opposite ends of the spectrum but everyone has their own way of growing
@@FastGardeningMichigan And thank god for that... If everyone farmed like this guy there'd be no animals or ecosystem left!