Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

When I had the screened panels around my beds I had a screw in the middle of each side that I used to attach it to the permanent upright 2x4s mounted on the bed. It only took a few seconds to back the two screws out enough to pull off the panels.

That's what I am doing now - using screws. But it always seems to me that I want to get into the garden bed and don't have a screwdriver or my drill handy.

I have started replacing the screws with rope that I can tie and untie as needed to get into the garden bed. No tools required with rope. The screws only take a few seconds to get out if you have a tool (screwdriver or drill) handy. Otherwise, I have to walk all the way back to the garage and get my tools.

It's not a really big deal, but it wastes time and effort. I'm just experimenting with other options that are tool free.

 

[gtaus]

I don't know of any veggies that will grow in heavy shade, but some ornamentals will.

I'm not into flowers. If I grow something, it has to be with the idea it ends up on the supper table. But the heavy shade is killing my efforts with those raised beds on the backside of my chicken run. I'll probably just relocate the beds with more sunshine. I have to pick and choose my battles.

 

[Smokerbill]

Well darn, I guess the deer here are nimble. They tiptoed past the pallets on the ground and pruned the squash again.

No biggie. I'll still have plenty of squash.

 

[gtaus]

Put "eyes" on the sides of each panel, then run a metal rod through them to attach the panels.

Thanks. I had not thought of that for this project, but I have certainly done similar setups on other things. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[gtaus]

Well darn, I guess the deer here are nimble. They tiptoed past the pallets on the ground and pruned the squash again.

No biggie. I'll still have plenty of squash.

That's too bad. I was really hoping that your pallets on the ground idea would work. I have a bunch of squash out in my raised bed gardens, but of course they have spread out and over the raised bed and are growing on the lawn.

I hope some of my squash makes it to maturity before the darned deer find them and eat them all. I don't want to have to put up a deer fence all around my backyard garden just to keep the deer out. It probably would be a lot cheaper just to buy the squash we will eat than buy a tall deer fence.

Google reenactment of what happened to me last year...

That's why I have made all those chicken wire protective cages for my raised beds. So far, the cages have kept out the rabbits. I'll find out how much damage the deer can do with my cages that do not have chicken wire on top. I am hoping that they just find it too difficult to reach up and over the fence to get at the tomatoes and peppers this year.

If they are not deterred by the protective cages without tops, I have some ideas to add removable tops to the frames.

At this point, I think I am putting more time and effort into protecting my gardens than expanding my production. Last year was a real wake up call for me when I had a herd of deer basically eat most of my crop in one night. That was heart breaking.

I think I am ready for the deer this year.

 

[Smokerbill]

My 2nd iteration of squash protection. It's cheesy and it was easy. I just stood pallets on edge about 3 feet out to make a temporary fence, then positioned some pallet and cattle panel sections on top to help hold them up while creating barriers to the deer jumping over. I'm counting on gravity and friction to hold it up. LOL. I might wrap a few loops of rope around things here or there to make it more stable.

If my shoulder wasn't messed up I would've screwed or nailed things together, but just putting the pallets in place was tough enough.

If it lasts a couple months that'll be good enough. Dang deer. Hopefully squash vine feed makes venison taste better. I'll find out this fall...

 

[gtaus]

I just stood pallets on edge about 3 feet out to make a temporary fence, then positioned some pallet and cattle panel sections on top to help hold them up while creating barriers to the deer jumping over.

I have heard, and read, in many places that deer do not want to jump into a barrier situation where they will have a hard time jumping out of later. I think your new strategy will be more successful.

Let's hope so.

 

[Smokerbill]

It worked last night. Chickens can go through the pallet wall but can't reach the vines.

 

[gtaus]

Yet Another Deer Attack! Thoughts on Protective Cages.

Deer must really like peppers!? I went outside the other day and discovered that the deer had eaten off the tops of the pepper plants in one of my raised beds. I had a 2-foot-tall chicken wire protective cage around the pepper plants, plus the raised bed is already 16 inches high, but some of the plants had grown over the chicken wire cage. The deer ate everything sticking above the fencing.

Although I am somewhat disappointed, all the peppers were below that level. So, I don't think I actually lost any peppers already growing. Will the lopped off tops slow down the production of the plants? Maybe. I don't know.

In any case, I have been living with my pallet wood chicken wire protective cages this year and seeing what kind of design works best for me. It's amazing how something you thought would be so good actually does not work out so well in practice!

Case in point, this past year I made a number of pallet wood protective cages that were 2-, 3-, and 4- feet tall. Some had wire tops on them, some not. I set those cages on top of my raised beds. The idea was to keep out the rabbits when the plants are young and be tall enough to keep out the deer later in the summer/fall when food is ready to harvest.

Here is what I think I have learned this summer. The 4-foot-tall cages were too tall to reach into and work the garden beds. Also, they are too bulky and heavy for a one-person lift. Most of the time, I work alone in the garden. So, no more 4-foot-tall protective cages.

Next, I had some 3-foot-tall protective cages, some with chicken wire tops, some open. The 3-foot-tall cages were better overall. I can lift them off by myself without much problem. I can still reach into the garden beds and pull weeds or do other maintenance without having to remove the cage if the top is open.

I had one 3-foot-tall protective cage with chicken wire on top and put that on a raised bed with eggplants. If we don't completely enclose our eggplants, the squirrels will eat them. So, the top on the protective cage worked OK for that bed. But I quickly discovered that having wire tops on the cages meant I would not be getting into the bed as much as I might have wanted. So, mid-summer, I removed the cage, pulled all the weeds, and put down a heavy mulch on the soil. That has kept the weed growth down in that bed and good enough that I have not needed to do any more maintenance.

The eggplants are about ready to harvest, and I only had to work with that 3-foot-tall protective cage once this summer. I consider that a success because in prior years, without a completely enclosed cage, we lost almost all our eggplants to the squirrels.

In general, I prefer the cages without tops which are good enough to keep out the rabbits, but I can still reach inside and work the bed.

Having said all that, I find the 2-foot-tall open top cages have worked the best for me. They keep the rabbits out and I can easily reach inside the cage and work the bed.

However, the 2-foot-tall cages are not tall enough to keep the deer out later in the summer when the plants grow taller than the chicken wire. My new idea is to stack two 2-foot-tall protective cages one on top the other, as needed, to keep out the deer. Gravity should be good enough to keep the top cage on the bottom cage, but if not, I can tie them together. With two 2-foot-tall pallet wood protective cages and the raised bed at 16 inches to start with, I have almost 5-1/2-feet of protection from the deer. I don't think the deer will be trying to reach up and over 5-1/2-feet!

I have no problem handling the 2-foot-tall cages by myself. I can easily take off the top cage and leave the bottom one in place as I work the garden. Going forward, I think everything will be based on the 2-foot-tall design, stacking one on top of the other if needed.

Getting back to my pepper bed that the deer ate off the tops of the plants, I had an old 4X4 chicken wire cage with a wire top that I used out in my old garden to protect my beans from the deer. It's not much to look at, but it fit on top of 4X4 cage I was using for the pepper bed.

I'll make another pallet wood frame for the top and cut some vertical supports to make it a proper, solid cage like the ones I am building now. But that can wait until after harvesting that bed. For now, it is protecting the pepper plants, and they are growing taller with the new top cage protecting them. Where I live, my peppers don't grow much over 3 feet tall in our short growing season. So, two 2-foot-tall cages should be more than enough protection going forward.

It's been raining here almost every day the past week, so I have not been doing much outside. The pictures in this post were taken last year. But that is what I am still working with.

My current plan is to cut my 4-foot-tall protective cage and remake it into two 2-foot-tall cages. That size just works better for me, and if the stacking idea works, I think it will be much more useful for me. Most of my protective cages do not need wire tops, however, I will have a couple cages with tops if I have to protect the plants, like the eggplants, from those darn squirrels.

If/when I get the new pallet wood protective cages built, I'll post some new pictures of the project. Although I have had mixed results with the cages this year, I have successfully protected almost all the plants from hungry pests. Now I just need to dial in the size that works best for me to work the beds and yet still protect the plants as needed. I'm thinking the 2-foot-tall option, stacked if needed, is my best option.

 

[Smokerbill]

Yeah, deer are hungry around here too now that it's so dry. The only lush greenery they can find is in my garden.

After setting up the rickety pallet fence around the outside of the squash and tomatoes growing in the chicken run bedding compost bin (which is working great so far) the deer came up to the front porch and "pruned" several large stems from the tomato plant I have growing in the self watering storage bin setup.

I've moved that tomato plant to the other side of the porch on a platform that's 2 feet above the floor. I placed my screened chicken coop panel against the porch railing on the outside to try and keep the deer from accessing the plant from that side. Plus I screwed another smaller chicken wire panel to the railing on the other side, because I have no doubt a deer would walk up the steps and nip off more the plant.

I have green beans growing next to the compost bin, and they're starting to hang over. My next project is to set up another barrier there to keep the deer from eating the bean vines. Dang deer.

I like your stacking idea. For some of the chicken wire panels I made I ripped 2x4s down the middle to build the frames. They're solid, but much lighter than if I used complete width 2x4s.