Fencing the Veggie Garden

We spent a weekend making fence posts from some salvaged steel section.  This involved cutting the steel to length, welding caps both ends of the steel section, drilling then painting.  The next weekend we dug 11 holes for the posts and last weekend we put the poles in, hung the gates then strung the wire.

The fence is 1.2 meters high with vermin resistant netting.  The old fence, which was in place when we purchased Honeydale was constructed from chicken wire and a few star pickets.  It did keep out wildlife but was not very secure and the gate was of an old bush design.

View of existing garden from the south.

We have three gates, one for general access and two, one at either end, wide enough for our tractor and its implements.   The new fence includes an additional 250 square meters of garden beds plus access paths and turning areas for the tractor.  We anticipate after the beds have been tilted we will use the access paths and turning areas for pumpkins, cucumbers, melons and other spreading plants.

Person gate and northern tractor gate

While we had the old fence down we did have to keep an eye open as one of the wild bush turkeys made several attempt to get past us to have a scratch around in the garden.  Eventually it got the hint and went to the new garden beds, which are not yet fenced, to scratch around.  We were closely monitored by Bella koala from one of her favoured trees overlooking the garden.

We had to leave a section of the old fence behind as the vines from the Queensland Blue pumpkins are tangled up in the netting.

The Supervisor

 Next weekend we will trench in the water supply pipe from the bore, put in the manifolds and cabling for the reticulation then complete the remaining 30 meters of fencing.  We need to get the trenching and part of the reticulation done as it will run along the fence line.

Then we can start preparing garden beds for our autumn planting, beans, peas, potatoes and onions.  We will also be planting more rhubarb and asparagus crowns.   The aim is to grow enough vegetables to be totally self sufficient by the end of 2017.

Jen and Rog

Email: honeydaleqld@gmail.com

Photos by Roger and Jennifer Holt