Robust and Refined; The Chisolms' 8' Tall Deer Enclosure

Most organic gardeners are happy to share a little of their fresh produce with the area wildlife.  But even the most patient growers can get frustrated to find their entire garden continually gnawed down to the ground. Sometimes squirrels are the culprits, and other times, those nibbled leaves are the work of rabbits. And even in urban and suburban areas, but especially in outer-lying neighborhoods with larger lots, deer are the guilty parties. Under the cover of darkness, deer come in hungry and leave happy -  razing your carefully nurtured organic garden down to the very roots. 

Now, sometimes scent-based deer deterrents do the trick, and you should count yourself fortunate if sprays, granules, hair clippings, etc. really do keep deer out of your garden. 

But these methods aren’t always effective, and the most reliable solution is a fence or enclosure around your garden that’s tall enough to keep deer from jumping over.  Deer fence designs and prices vary as widely as the weather, but they should all be 8’ tall or higher to keep deer out of your garden.

For large gardens in rural areas, and on farms, low-cost deer fencing kits work just fine. These kits usually consist of plastic netting stretched along metal poles that have been anchored to the ground, and a large area of crops can be protected at a relatively low cost.

But if you live in town, these effective, if visually humble designs aren’t likely to win any praise from the neighbors, or an HOA if you have one. Chances are you’ve invested in the appearance of your own landscape - perhaps even one or more cedar raised beds -  and an 8’ tall deer enclosure design would have to do more than simply keep deer out of your garden;  it would also have to enhance the visual appeal of your existing landscape.

And this was the case with Dan and Lynetta Chisolm, seasoned organic gardeners who live in an upscale neighborhood on the North side of Charlotte, with an alert and active HOA. 

After growing their own organic produce in a ground-level garden for years, these two avid growers decided to invest in an elegant organic garden design that included five cedar raised beds with drip irrigation, and decorative white pea pebbles. 

The Chisolms’ new garden design was a big step up in visual appeal, and just looking at the 18” tall Kitchen Garden raised beds made even the idea of working in their garden seem far more comfortable.

But the 18” tall raised beds would also make it more comfortable for the neighborhood deer to feast on their produce, and a functional, but attractive deer fence was essential to protect their investment. 

Gladly, our 8’ tall garden enclosure design was swiftly approved by the neighborhood HOA. The enclosure is framed with 2”x4” rough-sawn red cedar, and wrapped with 1/2” hardware cloth mesh, giving the design a tremendous amount of strength as well as the visual appeal needed to win the approval of the HOA, and not to mention the neighbors, too. Red cedar and galvanized steel mesh are famously durable materials for outdoor projects like this, and the Chisolms can expect many, many years of service from their garden enclosure. And to minimize our time and impact on the job site, we built the enclosure in our workshop in sections, then joined the sections together around the newly completed raised beds, using structural steel screws. This kept the on-site assembly portion of the enclosure to only about three hours.

Strong. Elegant. And Effective. This project really came together, and Dan and Lynetta were very pleased with the finished product. And we were just as happy as they were to see their new raised bed design safe from all those stealthy deer. After all, we’re gardeners, too. We know all about the disappointment of a nibbled up harvest, and we also know the satisfaction of protecting your garden from hungry wildlife.