Keeping out the critters

Two years ago I helped my daughter build two raised beds behind her house.  Turns out the neighborhood is home to many, many rabbits and squirrels, so her efforts at growing some veggies only served to feed the critters.  Determined to keep them from eating this year's crops, this spring we built a chicken-wired frame to fit over the bed.  The frame is hinged and can easily be opened by one person, so access to the crops is no problem.

The prototype looks great, so its on to the second frame.

 Frame in place

  Frame covered with chicken wire

                                                                                                   

Frame is hinged and one person can open it to tend to crops

Prior to installing the frame, little hands helped prep the bed, adding soil and compost and mixing it in with last year’s soil.  

Peas, lettuce, radishes and spinach were planted and well watered, then the frame installed.  By Mother’s Day at the latest, the second bed will be prepped and summer crops, including tomatoes, will be planted.  (Obviously, I’m visiting family who live in a different hardiness zone than zone 4 here in southern VT, as my cooler weather crops can’t go in the ground for another month, and summer crops not until early June!)

If you have a few beds and lots of hungry critters around, making this low-cost frame should help preserve your crops for human consumption.  It’s a great DIY project (we adapted a plan that we found online) that requires few tools, and only a few hours of your time.  It won’t keep out bears, but rabbits, squirrels, woodchucks and other critters will have to hunt elsewhere.