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== Madhav Kumar ==
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Building a Fence for Our Garden Bed

#gardening

A raised garden bed backed by a pipe and wire fence.

Every spring, we try to grow some vegetables, fruits, and/or flowers in our garden. Every spring, our local deer feast on our vegetables, fruits, and/or flowers.1

In previous years we tried deterrents and repellents like Irish Spring soap, marigolds2, and ultrasonic repellers. The ultrasonic repellers had the best results, but sometimes the deer figure them out.

We also tried makeshift guards and cages built with whatever we had on hand. These were more effective. However, they were prone to falling over in storms, annoying to move, and an eyesore.

So, I finally bit the bullet and spent a couple hundred dollars and a few hours to build a “proper” fence with a gate.3

Ingredients#

  • 3/4" Electric Metallic Tube (EMT) Conduit
  • Connectors and tools from Maker Pipe
  • 14-Gauge Welded Wire
  • Steel Rebar Pins
  • Stainless Steel Zip Ties
  • Carabiner
  • Electric Fence Gate Anchor

Recipe4#

I roughly measured the area to see how much of everything I needed. I had some rough plans in my head of what I wanted so in the interest of doing more and planning less, I just started building. It helped that I had a non-negotiable, nature imposed deadline of a few weeks to build.

It took me a few days of building in the evening after work and only one extra trip back to the store. For the mechanism to latch the gate shut, I chose to hold off on solving the problem until the last responsible moment. Scrounging around our storage, I found a spare carabiner and electric fence gate anchor.5 I slapped them onto the gate and the neighboring post and now we can keep the gate closed!

A close up of a fence gate latch made of a carabiner and an electric fence gate anchor.

Thoughts#

The latch system is incredibly janky, but it works and isn’t a complete pain in the ass to use. The fence itself is not completely straight,6 and there is a small gap between the bottom and the ground in places. However, we’re solving for deer not rabbits so that’s only an aesthetic issue for now.

It felt great to create something tangible. As a software engineer,7 I’m always creating things. Building software is a creative process, but the results can feel intangible and unreal. We deliver value, but at what cost?

This fence is physical. It’s functional. I went outside and built it with my hands to solve our problem. I liked this experience, and I hope you get to experience something similar soon.

  1. This is not the deer’s fault entirely. Our city has gone through a lot of growth and major development over the last few decades. Apartments and townhouses are springing up everywhere. People need places to live, but one cost has been the deer’s habitation. As a result, their natural food sources are scarcer and they’re resorting to eating even traditionally deer resistant and poisonous plants. As a secondary result, every single thing that goes in the ground now must be protected until it is established enough to weather getting chomped. ↩︎

  2. I also just really like marigolds. Aside from loving mango and being a software engineer, it’s one of the most stereotypically Indian things about me. ↩︎

  3. One might call this…a fence post. ↩︎

  4. This joke is funny and it’s my blog so you have to laugh. ↩︎

  5. In the ongoing battle with deer, I built an unpowered electric fence around our fruit trees. I do not have the heart to cause harm to animals. For my bleeding heart, our trees suffered. ↩︎

  6. Who is? ↩︎

  7. Have I mentioned I’m a software engineer? Do I bring it up regularly? Does it seem to pervade my every thought and influence the way I see the world and define how I approach problem solving? ↩︎