Monday, March 19, 2012

Fencing the Gardens IN~


…And the chickens out. winter garden- jan 23-2012 010 Garden -Jan 2012 002
I don’t know if you can tell or not; but the fence around my garden has two size holes…there is a 4 inch square hole on the bottom of this fence and  a 2 X 4 inch slotted holes at the top. My chickens were making a salad out of the Brussels Sprouts…so I flipped my fence over last week. 100_2139
This is before the switch. They’re able to stick half their bodies ALMOST completely in through that fence. 100_9967
Now I’ve got the small slots at the bottom and I have supports fastened better. I added the supports last year when the grass hoppers were so bad and I put TULLE over the top to keep them out. That worked really well. But this year I’m ready for them- I’VE GOT CHICKENS! 
Plus, I added these two small boxes on this side.
Can you tell what they are or were? I’ve repurposed Box fans!
They quit working  last year and I kept them and decided to use them for planter boxes.  I’ve got chicken wire over the tops of them right now. But I am going to have to beef them up especially once they start growing. I think the reason it’s called ‘chicken wire’ is because my chickens got right on top and squished the little cages down, right off the bat~  I was too busy shoo-ing them off with a cup towel – to snap a picture.
One has radishes and the other has carrots planted in them.  We’ll see how well they grow.
I’m finding it is much easier to fence my garden ‘IN’ than fence my chickens ‘IN’… so I guess you can say I’m fencing my chickens ‘OUT’ of the gardens.
I’ll have more on that later. I’ve done some more repurposing and fenced around the potager. I’ll post it later in the week.


Homestead Revival barn hop


An Oregon Cottage

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
~Philippians 4:23

10 comments:

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

I know what you mean. Ours free range anywhere they like, but this year they are getting fenced to a certain area.

Coleen's Corner said...

Spoken like a true (frustrated) farmer! Amazing how little space is needed for critters to crawl in the garden. Love your fan garden beds - very clever! Sometimes I think chickens are just as curious as cats.

gail@My Repurposed Life said...

genius to fence the chickens out. :) I know nothing about those little rascals, but I guess they eat the pesky grasshoppers? That's cool!
great repurpose of the box fans.
Have a great week Pat!
gail

Patricia @ 9th and Denver said...

Yes, I wanted to fence mine to the north side of the house-- pasture only. But budget wise it was more cost effective, to fence the garden! Plus I had enough scraps; lumber and fence to do the garden.

We hope to put up fence around the rest of our place...and then maybe have a calf or goat. LORD willing.
We'll see!

momto8 said...

It seems you have it figure out!!!
I got the lettuce and radishes planted this weakend too!

Cindy said...

Your garden plots look lovely and you are genius, dear Pat, who would have thought of using box fan frames for a garden? Genius, I tell you.
I have an idea of how to use a little more of my patio in a pretty way for a garden, I told my hubby about it tonight and he didn't nix it, so hopefully it works. It was about 75 degrees today, it was so hot!!! We haven't had that since about 1910, the radio said!
Have a good week! Hugs, Cindy

Clint Baker said...

Everything looks great. The box fans are an awesome idea! You all keep up the good work!

Barb @ A Life in Balance said...

I love the box fan idea! I didn't realize that's what they were until I read farther along in your post.

We have to fence the deer out every year. The fence doesn't look pretty, but it does its job. Also keeps out the toddlers. :)

Jocelyn said...

Oh gosh, I feel like I'm forever fencing. Or building, but that's another story.

I love the box fan idea. I have an old kids plastic sandbox that I'm eyeing this year. I haven't decided exactly where to put it yet, but I know it'll get used. Everything around here is put to work!

Athena at Minerva's Garden said...

Well done for co-existing with the chickens so you get lovely veggis and they get to walk around the yard!