I guess I'll start off by saying how excited I am about my garden this year. Last year, I had such high hopes for my tomatoes. And for the most part, I had a huge bounty... except they all had bites taken out of them. Yes, a groundhog, who we lovingly named Hermie, had taken up residence under our porch & terrorized my tiny garden. We've had groundhogs visit our yard in the past & take a few bites here and there, but Hermie was especially ravenous. You'd think he'd remember if he liked tomatoes or not... but he just kept taste-testing anyway.
I think groundhogs are just about the cutest creatures so I couldn't bare to call an exterminator, much to the displeasure of my husband, friends, & family. So naturally my garden became his garden last year. And, the bold critter made himself at home on our porch (see adorable photo below). Well, this is a new year. And I'm not fooling around with any more whistlepigs! Actually, my neighbors weren't willing to put up with groundhogs anymore, so they put out traps & apparently ensnared my precious Hermie. I guess it's a blessing in disguise really. But I was content on letting him live out his short life under our deck because I invested in a small solar powered electric fence this year.
Installing the fence was an arduous task. I have a small raised garden bed and a tiny backyard. So when I first put the bed in, I placed it really close to our back fence to save yard space. This made it hard to lean into because my butt would bump into the back fence. The electric fence kit required at least 3 feet around the perimeter of the garden, so that meant that I had to relocate my raised bed. I had to move the bed forward 3 feet, which required lots of digging, dismantling the raised bed, moving the frame forward, removing sod, and prepping the new soil. Then I put down weed barrier & mulch before I installed the fence. This was time-consuming, hard work to say the least. But it's all done & looks really impressive I think.
Oh, & in the process of taking these photos, I managed to get zapped about 5 times by my own electric fence. It's not brutal, just a small charge like static electricity. The funny (and embarrassing) thing was that I didn't think I would get shocked through my jeans. Well duh, isn't the point of the fence to shock furry animals? So, this fence should keep Hermie out if he ever finds his way home. And if he does come home, he'll be displeased to find that my husband filled in his hole & placed a giant rock on top of it :(
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| Solar powered electric fence |
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| Wow, look at all that green! |
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| Well, just make yourself at home on my porch Hermie! |
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