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Re: [nafex] Deer
>It's my understanding that some backyard gardeners have found that deer are
>reluctant to jump even a five-foot fence if the fence encloses a space
within
>which they would feel "confined," i.e., if the enclosed space is "too
small."
>Does anybody have experience with this phenomenon? And, if so, what size
enclosures?
I have seen a lush garden, roughly 30x 15, inside a 4 foot tall fence, in an
area with deer eating virtually all ornamental shrubs, and active day and
night.
I now have a garden of similar size inside a very loose (recycled) patchwork
fence 4 foot tall, stiffened a bit with small bamboo stakes. I have done
cluster fencing of fruit trees roughly 25x 25; it works well it seems- you
can enter once to tend 3-4 trees, and lets you add shrubs and perennials
food-forest or permaculture style. I put shrubs and trees that will hedge
along the margin (hawthorne, autumn olive, gooseberry etc.) and the deer
prune what sticks out; thus a wall forms. It's important, I think, to leave
trails between "bomas" so the deer can pass through. A "boma" is an African
stockade of thorn branches. If you'd rather, if you're being permacultural
and thinking in polycultures, you've been calling the fruit trees and their
companions a "guild", and so you've got a "guilded cage" (there will be birds
nesting, if you've done it right) It looks very odd and funky, but it works
for me.
I'd hate to have the deer leave- I'm developing a terrific love for venison
chili.
-Rick
Rick Valley Northern Groves
PO Box 1236, Philomath, OR 97370
Mobile-(541)602-1315, hm.& msg. (541)456-4364 Bamboo catalog $3 or at
<http://www.teleport.com/~dbrooks/bamboo.html>
"Useful Bamboos and other plants‹ Permaculture education‹ Ecological design &
consultation centering on water,landform and horticultural systems"