New Community Garden

[Bruinwar]

Hi all,

I'm unsure if this is the right place to post this so I am open to suggestions for a better place. A new community garden site is starting up & I am the volunteer coordinator. This is a site with rented plots with the agreement to donate at least 10% of harvest to the local food pantries. Last year my previous site donated over 1000 lbs produce. About 250lbs were tomatoes from my plot! Nice sturdy, red, round, hybrids (Celebrity & Goliath) with good shelf life. I grow a row of them specifically for donations.

This new site is on the edge of the city, loaded with deer. The location seems to have it's own herd. This will be a problem. IMO a deer fence of some sort is mandatory. The organization is not willing to spring for a fence as we don't know if this site will actually work out. I believe this site is going to do fine & is likely to expand.
BTW, I've only had minimal deer problems with my tomatoes, but the other gardeners will quite likely want to grow other stuff.

The current layout is two rows, 5 plots each. Plots are 25' X 30', 150' X 100' figuring in some space between rows. The total perimeter 500 feet, correct?

Looking here & there at fencing, I've getting some sticker shock. Home Depot has some 7' X 100' plastic mesh for under $20 & I think I can find steel posts for around $20 per. So if I go this route it is around $400-$500.

Thoughts? Any ideas are very welcome, thanks.
Joe S.

Bruinwar, is the site on the west side? Just curious as I lived in AA for a few years.
Can the folks who take up the plots contribute anything at all toward the fence?
What about asking downtown businesses to sponsor a plot, and put some of that towards the fence?
U of M students might be into doing some gardening; you never know.
Kerrytown would be a good place to hand out flyers about the whole mission and I’m guessing it will be gearing up soon.
Bets of luck and if I think of anything else I’ll let you know.
- Joyce

[Bruinwar]

Hi Jane,

Yes, west side, far west. Getting gardener's to chip in on fencing is one of the ways some sites work it out. Thanks for all your suggestions, I was thinking about flyers in Kerrytown actually. UofM students actually do rent plots regularly.

More to the point, I am going to come up with the money, one way or another. I was fishing for suggestions on what would be the best solution at the lowest cost.

Regards,
Joe S.

[Nan_PA_6b]

There's this stuff at Lowe's:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Tenax-Actua...encing/3458958
It's not very substantial looking, but says it can be used as deer fence. It brings down the cost.

Here's a tip, whatever you put up: Put a few white zip ties or white bits of cloth, around deer height, every few feet. In the dark, the darned things can't see the fence and if they're charging in the wrong direction, they can take the whole fence out.

[taboule]

One trick that worked well for a friend, and I've heard it from others -but haven't tried it myself. Buy Irish Spring soap (the bars), leave whole or cut them in smaller blocks, then tie and hang around the perimeter. Deer hate that smell, which is always refreshed by rain, fog or morning dew.

[Bruinwar]

Thanks Nan. I am likely going to go with the HD one here at $20 a roll for better or worse.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/allFENZ-7-ft-x-100-ft-Black-Polypropylene-Deer-Fence-DF8410034B/301859957

Great idea adding the markers so the deer see it.

Taboule, thanks. I've seen the soap suggestion around here & there. No harm it trying it!

Thanks everyone, I really need $1500 but I think I am going to try to make it work for under $300.

[nyrfan]

Irish Spring works! I've used it the last 2 years, hanging 1/4 bars from our fence every meter.


Before the soap they would jump the fence, destroy my peppers & snack on my tomato vines.

[nancyruhl]

A community garden not so far away got a nearby Home Depot to donate the fence around the community garden plot. They put in a chair link fence.

Michigan deer do seem to like tomato foliage a lot. You have been lucky not to have had any difficulty with them. I will be adding Irish Spring to my arsenal this year. Thanks for the tip.

[SueCT]

I wonder if HD would help out in exchange for a plaque or something telling everyone that the local HD was sponsoring it. Especially if you play up the agreement for members to contribute to the Food Bank.

[Bruinwar]

Wow that is very interesting... get a local store to sponsor a fence...! There is actually a Lowes location less that two miles away. I'm going to have to run this past the board of both my non-profit & the church location, but it sounds promising. I will be sure to update this thread on how it goes. I am going to compose a letter today.

Funny about deer & tomato plants. For years I had very few issues, just nibbles on the fruit at the tops of the plants here & there. Once I had a new transplant ripped up, munched on, then spit out. From what I understand, tomato plants don't taste good. However, one friend of mine lost a ton of plants to deer. Go figure. I bet it depends on how hungry are. Drought conditions might have something to do with it.

Thanks all! Tomatoville, the best garden forums on-line!

[greenthumbomaha]

When I had a community garden plot, someone planted corn. The neighboring plots suffered from a critter, maybe a racoon, coming in and destroying the immediate area around the corn.
Not deer, but something to consider perhaps eliminating from the garden.

- Lisa

[SueCT]

You could also try a wire fence. You pound in those green posts from HD or Lowes, that are about 8ft tall, and have little tabs on them, then you roll out the wire fencing and hook on those tabs. I think a fence has to be pretty high to keep deer out. They jump pretty high and can also stand and eat right over the fence.

You would need the taller ones, but this is the style I was thinking about. I have them around my garden with no fence on them, although mine have tabs that are a little different and I can hook nylon trellis netting on it when I want to grow something like peas. If I get critter problems I will also be able to hook a roll of wire fencing to mine:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...76EB/205960892

This is mine, but I have the 8ft posts:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...55EB/205960883

[Tormato]

It's a COMMUNITY garden, as much of the community as possible should be sought to get involved.



Perhaps calling Ann Arbor/Veterans Fence company and explain your situation and perhaps future plans. Here, there are businesses that make one day to give back to the community with dozens of volunteers to donate the work and the corporation to donate the materials. And, a write-up in the local newspaper, or TV appearance on the news, etc.. is great PR for those companies.

[Bruinwar]

Thanks SueCT. Stringing wire is a possibility. There are a lot of people that are using fishing line combined with cans that make a racket to scare the deer. I actually have that the 7' posts you linked in my cart on the HD website right now. They (or Lowes) don't have 8".

The community garden site I've been at for the past three years has a fence that is 7-8' high & occasionally a deer jumped it. We saw the tracks & some damage. We had the fence with a buried chicken wire barrier at the bottom that we repaired annually & still had critter damage. Groundhogs, rabbits, & possums can be quite determined.

Tormato: The community currently consists of my wife & I (2 plots), & 4 others (3 1/2 plots). We still have to rent out 4 1/2 plots. I may have to do some promoting/marketing work to get that done. However, we do donate to the local food pantries & are a non-profit, so your suggestions are perfectly valid & I plan to attempt them.

[Nan_PA_6b]

Oh yes, you need the buried chicken wire at the bottom to stop rabbits and ground hogs. I also included 2' of finer mesh at the bottom to stop the baby bunnies.