An Elegant Garden Fortress

Country meadows and farm pasture nestled among towering native forests. Hardly any traffic, or the noise and stress that comes along with it. Lower taxes. Better schools. Rural beauty paired with the convenience of family-friendly neighborhood living. Who wouldn’t love that? Many do, and it’s for these reasons and more, the Ahumada family chose their Fort Mill home when relocating from California. 

As if to enjoy to enjoy that rural beauty to the fullest, the family’s home sits at the back of  a cul-de-sac, on the very edge of their graciously-designed, upscale neighborhood. The view from the family’s backyard paints a striking picture with stands of hardwood and conifer trees. A gently sloping meadow, with boulders. A sparkling pond off in the distance. 

And, of course, this heavenly slice of country living wouldn’t be complete without wildlife ; all the rabbits, foxes, raccoons... creatures that fly, walk, crawl, and slither. And especially the deer. Those hungry, hoofed, and agile creatures that move in groups that can wipe out an organic garden in 15 minutes. Or less.

Now, the family’s new home already had an existing organic garden that was well-placed on a sunny rise, towards the back of the backyard. The home’s previous owners had installed irrigation in the garden area, and had worked, with some success, to amend and improve the existing soil. But the Ahumada family wisely opted to seek a garden design comprised of raised beds that would greatly improve their chances of success, enhance the beauty of their property, and and make gardening more comfortable. And they knew that their new organic garden design had to have protections from deer.

The decorative metal fence that runs around the border of the property is attractive, and, to be fair, it does keep the family dog inside the backyard. But for hungry deer, the metal fence might as well be a small threshold to hop over on the way to dinner.

So the Ahumada family’s garden design needed to combine plenty of garden area, along with a sturdy wildlife barrier to keep out rabbits, but especially deer.

To maximize the garden area in the property’s previously established organic garden site - which was, an excellent, sunny location for an edible garden - We created a ‘keyhole’ garden design, that measured 3’ wide and 15’x17’, with a 3’x5’ raised bed placed in the center of the ‘keyhole’ planter. 

And instead of placing the wildlife barrier on the ground in a perimeter outside the keyhole planter, we anchored the series of  50”-tall fence panels right on top of the keyhole planter. This created a sort of ‘elegant fortress’ effect that proved to be attractive, and also very functional - yielding a total height of nearly 6’. 

 

Now, it’s worth noting here that deer can easily clear a 6’-tall fence and for a standard deer fence, the height should be 8’ to ensure that even the most agile deer can’t jump over. 

And we’ve built plenty of 8’-tall deer barriers, using the same red cedar frame style, clad with 1/2” galvanized hardware cloth.

( click here if YOU'D like to see some of our 8'-tall wildlife enclosure designs. )

But, because we’ve found that deer tend to avoid jumping into smaller enclosed areas - where there isn’t enough room for the deer to feel comfortable landing inside - or to make the jump back out of the enclosed area - garden fences that are even just 4’ or 5’ tall can be highly effective in keeping deer out of smaller enclosed gardens.

The Ahumada family’s keyhole raised bed and the 3’x5’ planter were both made with naturally durable, rough-sawn red cedar, and filled with a premium organic soil blend. We also fitted both cedar garden beds with 1/2” diameter drip irrigation, connecting our irrigation tubing to the existing irrigation line that was, conveniently, already right at the garden site. Even better, the existing irrigation supply to the garden area was already set up on a dedicated watering zone at the main control panel. This is the ideal irrigation scenario for an organic garden, as edible varieties have different watering requirements than ornamental plants like grass, shrubs, and trees.

We framed the 50”-tall wildlife barrier panels with rough sawn, red cedar 2”x4”, and clad each panel with 1/2” galvanized hardware cloth ; a rugged steel mesh that lasts for many years outdoors, and can easily fend off the claws and hoofs of wildlife like deer, raccoons, and even coyotes.

Once the wildlife barrier panels were screwed to each other, and screwed down to the top of the cedar ‘keyhole’ garden bed, the barrier height was nearly 6’-tall, and rock solid. Decorative pebbles spread between the keyhole planter and the 3’x5’ cedar garden bed added the needed charm to balance out the rather fortress-like feel of this organic garden design. And with the sturdy, hinged entry gate and barrel bolt finally installed, we turned the garden over to the Ahmad family - who were already making their way up to the garden, with seedlings, trowels, and smiles all around.