I'm having a tough time with the cost of hardware cloth for fencing. I need to create a barrier to keep rabbits and deer out, which involves burying it a foot underground and building a fence that's around 6-7 feet high for a total length of 50 feet. The costs are adding up to a couple hundred bucks, and I missed the sale at Menards for chicken wire, which is now a lot pricier. I checked Facebook Marketplace, but found nothing useful there either. How do you all manage to protect your gardens without spending a fortune? Given how much I've already invested in soil, fertilizer, and beds, I'm starting to question if I should've even started this garden in the first place!
3 Answers
This year, I'm trying out 7-foot plastic deer netting anchored to the ground with long metal landscaping staples. I’m also thinking about adding another layer of strings tied to poles a few feet away to deter deer since it confuses their depth perception when they jump. Plus, the 6-inch staples should hopefully keep rabbits out too!
Chicken wire is a cheaper alternative and can do a decent job of keeping rabbits out. If you're facing a particular pest that can sneak through chicken wire but not hardware cloth, use hardware cloth only in spots where it matters. For the rest of the fence height, you could switch to chicken wire or something like cattle panels to save a few bucks!
Consider using a 2x4 welded wire cattle panel—it's about 16 feet long by 50 inches wide and tough enough for deer, while the openings are small enough to fend off adult rabbits. If you set it up properly with treated lumber and use 4x4 posts in concrete, it’ll last you a lifetime!