"Terry Coombs" writes:

An electric fence I can probably swing , at a couple hundred for the
unit , posts/standoffs , and wire if I spread the purchases out.
Retirement income only stretches so far ...

For twenty years the white-tailed deer came into the field at the NW
corner, grazed around the edge and left by the SE corner, completely
ignored the rather extensive gardens. A few years ago, they changed.
Ate everything in the garden including flourishig tomato
plants. Kicked the seaweed off and ate the the seed potatoes. No
half-assed tricks with **** pots of strategically placed gill net
barriers helped at all.

Now I have a 4-strand 8' electric fence around a couple of acres.
Posts are half inch rebar jammed into the ground. There are poly
stand-offs made for just this setup. Battery operated fence charger
runs on a good used car battery. Needs 1 or two recharges a season
from April to November. Only deer incursions have been after I turn it
off in the fall. They got a couple of young fruit trees last winter.
This winter the replacement trees have individual hen wire cages.

Didn't work for rabbits. Now the favorite rabbit targets are in
patchs surrounded by hen wire or electric sheep fence, one roll of
which latter cost more that the whole shebang for the regular electric
fence.

But no varmits are my garden last year. Well, excepting the red
squirrels in the raspberry patch. Target practice.


--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada