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I started gardening this year for the first time, and started off with a 4'x4' raised bed kit that I got at Home Depot. It's around 7" high, and I was worried that the local bunnies might be able to get in and eat everything. So my hubby and I installed some rabbit guard fencing around the raised bed, and it's kept the bunnies out.
However, the fencing has made it difficult for me to get into my garden and do weeding, etc. Not only do I have to bend over to get into the garden, but I have to bend over the fence - and it's not easy!
Should I get a second raised bed kit, and stack it on top of the existing one? That would put the height at 14" - is that enough to keep bunnies out? Would I still need the fence?
Or should I move the fence away from the edges of the raised bed, would that help at all? Currently the fence is right along the edges of the raised bed.
I'm very new to all this, and would appreciate any advice, thanks! :)
I would suggest the second raised bed kit, simply because many vegetables need a foot of root space. And for your bunny fence, if you have enough fencing it would be best to move it away. Give yourself maybe two feet of moving room. That means the total enclosure would be something like 8x8. Can you step over the fence easily? Maybe just putting in a little gate would be better.
Hope you are enjoying your first garden:>)
Making it a little higher won't keep them out. Just make one side of the bed easy to get into. For instance on one side use cloths pins or something that would make it easy to OPEN that one side so you can work in the bed. I use deer fencing. It's nylon and I use cloths pins to "hinge" it to the chicken wire on the 2 sides. My problem is deer and woodchucks.
tommyr2006 wrote:Making it a little higher won't keep them out. Just make one side of the bed easy to get into. For instance on one side use cloths pins or something that would make it easy to OPEN that one side so you can work in the bed. I use deer fencing. It's nylon and I use cloths pins to "hinge" it to the chicken wire on the 2 sides. My problem is deer and woodchucks.
Tommyr2006 - We have raised beds and have gone to enclosing them in a cage made of wire fencing and a PVC pipe frame. If there was something easier to use out there that was just as effective then we would switch. How does the deer fencing work with the woodchucks?
We have woodchucks here but they (so far) have not bothered my veggies. They seem to like dandelions more than anything. The house behind mine put in a new shed and the chucks immediately moved in under the shed. So they're not coming up to my back patio as in the past right now.
