Chicken wire cage for vining vegetables?

I live in a wooded area of Cincinnati and have trouble with wildlife: deer, raccoons, opossums, squirrels, birds, etc. I am building my first SFG and need a relatively inexpensive way to keep these animals out. I think my best bet is a chicken wire cage like Mel shows in the book, but how do you make a cage that can accommodate a trellis and vining vegetables? Also, my 4 year old has chosen corn for her square foot. Has anyone built a cage tall enough, or a cage with a slanted roof? Any design ideas? Thanks!

I will try to find the thread but there was a person last year who just gated her whole garden with fencing...including the top so it was like walking in a fenced box that was the size of her whole garden. :-)

I don't know what the cost would be since I have little in the way of wildlife issues... What about getting one of those nets they make for keeping birds off the fruit trees, and building a fence around the garden using tall fence posts (at least 6' high) of some sort covered with that? You could rig some sort of "gate" by cutting an opening and then figuring out a way to secure it shut when you want to get in/out of the area. Then a regular trellis for vining plants within the net.

Somebody chime in and say whether this is feasible? Boffer? Anyone?

I pounded 2 green fence posts in the ground beyond the trellis. Attach chicken wire (with 2 mini bungee cords) from the front of the critter cage, out and around the posts, to the back of the same critter cage. Attached again with a couple of little bungee cords. It opens up like a hinge-less fence so I could tend to the trellis.

What about the exposed top of the trellis you might ask? I didn't want deer and birds getting the snow peas, tomatoes, or green beans. So I layed a piece of chicken wire over the top and wallah. It was enough to confuse animals and birds. How many vegetables were lost to wild critters last summer? Zero.

Does it look pretty? Not really. Do I care? Nope. Is it a pain to remove? Only if I'm feeling lazy. Did it work 100% against deer, raccoon, bunnies, birds and cats? YES! And I still had plenty of resident frogs, toads whatever hopping around the veggies as natural predators.

Great thread! Near and dear to my heart... pictures - I need pictures...

This is my solution you might have to tweak it for some of the critters. and I have some trellis's that are in the middle. Each section of fence comes off separately so that I can lift it easily. I know its not exactly what you were looking for but thought it might give you ideass

Zomo, that looks like a great way to do it, but how did you design it so you could get in there and do your gardening (and hopefully harvesting!) I don't have a whole lot of wildlife problems, (just cats, rabbits, mice) and I'm only looking to put up a 2-3 foot fence but other than doing a cage over the garden or certain crops I can't figure out a great way to be able to remove panels for access when it comes to harvesting the low stuff and weeding. It seems that even for a 2' fence if would be nice to be able to remove a portion to get in there to work.

kgooding wrote:Zomo, that looks like a great way to do it, but how did you design it so you could get in there and do your gardening (and hopefully harvesting!) I don't have a whole lot of wildlife problems, (just cats, rabbits, mice) and I'm only looking to put up a 2-3 foot fence but other than doing a cage over the garden or certain crops I can't figure out a great way to be able to remove panels for access when it comes to harvesting the low stuff and weeding. It seems that even for a 2' fence if would be nice to be able to remove a portion to get in there to work.

If you notice there are legs on each section. There are brackets on the side of the boxes and we just slide the section in or out so that we can get into all boxes and we get to the middle through two gates. One that hasn't been built yet hence we have a wheelbarrow in front of it LOL It is a work in progress.

Zomo! What a great idea! Don't you just love how inventive and resourceful we all are as individuals? Get us together in a large group like this and the creativity is amazing! Thanks for posting the pics!

Another thought I had was what about one of those greenhouse structures or boat cover structure thingies without the tarp/poly over it and using bird netting somehow instead? That would be for someone who needs to keep critters from getting in at the top, too... Sometimes people are getting rid of their boat cover structures or old greenhouse frames on Craigs list, etc...

I love all your ideas. Please send more pictures, if you can! Also, if I build just a fence and not a cage, how high does the fence have to be to keep out deer? My dad (who hunts) said deer can jump 6 feet from a standstill. I want to keep all my hard work safe, but I also don't want to break the bank or this won't be fun anymore. Keep the ideas coming! Thanks!

My son in law finally had to put an electric fence around his garden. That's keeping the deer out.

Kay

My neighbor said that if a fence is angled outward or has a row of bushes planted inside or outside it, a deer is far less likely to attempt jumping it, even when it's only 5' tall.

kittykat wrote:Zomo! What a great idea! Don't you just love how inventive and resourceful we all are as individuals? Get us together in a large group like this and the creativity is amazing! Thanks for posting the pics!

Another thought I had was what about one of those greenhouse structures or boat cover structure thingies without the tarp/poly over it and using bird netting somehow instead? That would be for someone who needs to keep critters from getting in at the top, too... Sometimes people are getting rid of their boat cover structures or old greenhouse frames on Craigs list, etc...

This is an excellent idea. Something like this:

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/pts/2983533206.html

Covered with deer netting:

http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Gardener-15464-100-Foot-Netting/dp/B000A286YU

Or if needed it could be covered with shade cloth.

@lindacol - yes - that's exactly what I was thinking... I have a resident peacock that would pick every single seedling out of my SFGs if I left them uncovered. I made cages for them, which really work, but they are mildly annoying to get on and off... The boat-cover/netting idea might be better for me...

On the right side you can see the chicken wire is attached to the front of the critter cage, pulled out around the two green fence posts. Oops the picture only captured one green post. Anyway, attached chicken wire to the back of the same critter cage. Use bungees to attach to front and back of critter cage. Easy to detach and get to the trellis. Also put a piece of chicken wire on top of the exposed area. Must have totally confused animals, as no veggies were lost.

Check out this thread for other good ideas:

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t11930-hello-from-minnesota-need-critter-control#117318

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If you notice there are legs on each section. There are brackets on the side of the boxes and we just slide the section in or out so that we can get into all boxes and we get to the middle through two gates. One that hasn't been built yet hence we have a wheelbarrow in front of it LOL It is a work in progress. [/quote]

Zomo-I am sooo impressed by your design! Its ingenious & exactly what I've been wanting to do! This is my first year of square foot gardening so I have alot to learn.

I realize I'm a bit late to this thread but maybe you'll get a notification & be able to help me, I'd really appreciate it!

Did you use 1x1 wood pieces for the chicken wire frame?
What way did you find was easiest to secure the wire to the frame?...staples?
How did you attach the brackets to your raised bed?...it looks like you used some kind of metal ring but even after enlarging the photo, I couldn't quite tell what you used.

Again, what an ingenious idea!

Yes we used 1x1, the brackets we rounded and screwed into the wood on either side. We used staples to staple the chicken wire and tried to staple to the underside so we don't scrape our hands. Thank you for your inquiry

zomo wrote:Yes we used 1x1, the brackets we rounded and screwed into the wood on either side. We used staples to staple the chicken wire and tried to staple to the underside so we don't scrape our hands. Thank you for your inquiry

Thank you so much for replying! By any chance do you have a closer image of how you attached the bracket to the raised bed? Do you happen to know what size brackets you used?