Deer Fencing

I’m often asked how to keep deer out of the garden, and specifically how my husband Bill and I keep them out of OUR garden. While our deer fencing is usually difficult to see under normal conditions, it’s very obvious when it is covered in hoarfrost!

When I looked out my front window yesterday, I realized conditions were perfect for showing you exactly what our set-up is.

We have a 4-foot-tall field fence surrounding our small orchard and immediate backyard (which includes our veggie garden). It is supported by heavy-duty metal fence posts.

A few years ago, Bill also inserted 10-foot-long rods of rebar at each fence post. Then we purchased a 7-foot-wide roll of black plastic deer netting, which we split in half lengthwise.

At that point, we added 3 1/2′ wide strips of it above the pre-existing field fence by attaching to the upright rebar rods and zip-tying it to the top of the field fence. Does that make sense?

So we have a 7 1/2′ tall deer fence that works great. It even keeps out the moose! Ordinarily, the black mesh deer fencing is very difficult to see but as you can see by these photos, it really stands out when covered with hoarfrost… but we don’t mind one bit.

Earlier this year, I shot a video on dealing with deer, which covers many techniques but also shows the same fence set-up in more detail. I hope this is helpful to you.