Since I built my own vegetable planter box and started growing a few tomato, cucumber and green pepper plants during the spring and summer months, I’ve had to contend with backyard critters.
The first season, it was only a few tomatoes that fell victim to mysterious bite marks. Not the Twilight vampire type, but those that can only be made by squirrels and their close cousins. Each subsequent year, the rumor of the juicy tomatoes at Chez Loni’s vegetable garden spread as I saw more and more tomatoes damaged from these lovable, but pesky visitors.
A few tomatoes to feed the hungry animals on the preserve behind our home was okay. Surely it is a nice gesture since the animals were here before our home was built. Last year, however, between the bad weather and the critters, I almost didn’t get any tomatoes from the garden. I didn’t want to use any chemical deterrents since I am trying to maintain an organic garden.
Ultimately, I concluded I needed to install a fence. I thought it would be difficult working with metal chicken wire. So instead, I used a plastic mesh for the fence.
This video- number 5 in my Vegetable Gardening Series – provides tips on how to build a fence around a vegetable garden to keep the critters out.
The entire project should take less than 30 minutes. Happy gardening!