Reddit mentions of Bird Netting [Heavy Duty] Protect Plants and Fruit Trees - Extra Strong Garden Net Is Easy to Use, Doesn't Tangle and Reusable - Lasting Protection Against Birds, Deer and Other Pests (7.5ft x 65ft)

Bird netting will help you get a bigger harvest next year.

Congratulations on these beauties!

I don't have many pictures to share, but to prevent deer from getting into my 60' x 20' garden, I did the following:


I bought 18 seven foot long metal U-posts from Lowes ($6.98 each), and drove them into the ground (with a damn sledgehammer, while standing on a plastic chair set on cardboard so it wouldn't sink into the ground, since the post driver tools I had access to weren't big enough for the size of the U-post). Once in the ground, that left about 5.5 feet of post above ground. I have seven posts on each side (the 60 foot lengths) and then two additional posts on the 20 foot ends to provide a doorway/gate opening.

I had purchased 7.5 foot high wildlife netting (about $20/pack, and I bought 3 packs), which I'd thought would work well with the 7 foot posts (leaving some extra to pin to the ground to prevent animals from digging under it), but while I was aware of the fact that driving the posts into the ground would result in less height, I don't think I knew it would be a foot and a half less. I had read deer can jump over fences less than 8 feet high, so--while I wouldn't go to 8 feet--I wanted more height than the 5.5' I had. So I bought 36 eight foot long treated pine furring strips ($1.97/piece so about $72 total), to fasten to each of the metal posts to provide additional height.

I positioned the posts on the long side at ten foot intervals, and the gate openings are about 8 feet from each corner. I then took two furring strips and would lie them on the ground, and cut a piece of netting to the necessary length to go between each set of posts, and then stapled the netting to the posts. I then took the "panel" of netting, and using zip ties, fastened the furring strips to the metal posts.

I had initially been thinking the netting would run as one continuous length for the full 60 foot length of each side, but I decided to put it together in "panels," if you will, both because I thought it would be less likely to sag (since the lengths would only be about 10 feet long, and because I thought it would be easier to keep them taut at shorter lengths), and also because I realized I could also conceivably remove the 10 foot panels of netting (while still fastened to the furring strips), and roll them up for winter storage (figuring the weight of snow and/or ice on the netting would likely cause problems).

When I started making the panels, I left about 12 inches of netting hanging below the bottom of the furring strips, thinking it would be useful in preventing animals from crawling/digging under the net, but I later realized that the extra netting at the bottom would likely just make my life harder when it came to weeding, and that my neighboring gardeners (I'm at a community garden) would be more likely to step on it, get caught on it, inadvertently pull it out, etc. I was also losing an extra foot in "fence" height by leaving that extra net hanging off of the bottom. So about halfway through my panel construction, I started keeping the net flush with the bottom of the furring strips, and instead putting it up about a foot higher on the strip. I need to go back and re-staple the ones at the lower height, so that they're all the same height.

The doorway/gates are just smaller panels, one size zip-tied to a metal post, and the other with a zip tie left loose so that it can slip over the top of the metal post on the other side to allow for opening/closing the door/gate.

Some pictures....it's hard to even see the netting, but trust me, it's there.

The plot before any fencing.

After the fence was in place, looking toward the back of the garden. "Gate" at left corner.

After the fence was in place, looking toward the front of the garden. "Gate" at center.