Since I started this blog I’ve advocated for planting your fruit trees and shrubs as the first thing you should do on your homestead. I think that’s still the case, especially if you haven’t found a homesite yet, however, once you can get those plants in the ground, the second thing you should do is build your fence – see more about how I put up a fence.
If you build your fence, you can better protect your plants. I planted several fruit trees and bushes in the Fall of 2023 and Spring of 2024, but I only put up a fence a couple of weeks ago. I had been wondering why my blueberries only seemed to have a few leaves, but I realized that the deer had been eating the leaves right away. I’m generally cool with feeding the deer (not deer feed, but I did plant some hybrid American Chestnut trees, American Persimmon trees, and Red Mulberry trees beyond the fence specifically for the wildlife) but not when it is at the expense of the growth of my blueberry bushes.
Learn from My Mistakes
The blueberries bushes have already shown significant growth in the past couple weeks without the deer around, so don’t be like me and wait a couple of years to put up a fence. The fence doesn’t need to be fancy, as long as it is at least 8 feet tall (96 inches). I’m a big fan of knotted wire fence, because I think it looks decent, it’s fairly inexpensive (though it is more expensive than plastic fences) and it should last a solid 40 years. Knotted wire fences are also called high tensile fences, and they’re what the pros use to protect their orchards.
I ended up using the trees along my property as the fence posts, so I didn’t have to spend a ton of money on wood posts and concrete (and all the time and effort it takes to put up those posts). Hopefully, the fence will still last 40 years, even with the growth in the diameter of the trees. I wouldn’t be surprised if the tree trunks grow over some of the fencing in that time period. If you build your fence using trees, just hope those trees don’t die or get knocked over by storms.
Deer Bring Other Pests
One of the reasons that I decided to raise chickens is because they eat ticks and other bugs, but I recently realized that since my fence is keeping the deer out, there should also be fewer ticks in my garden. I’ve seen deer with huge black spots on them, that I later realized were many, many ticks, so with fewer deer, I should have fewer ticks.
Stacking Functions of Building a Fence
This kind of goes back to the idea of “stacking functions” that many permaculturists talk about. A fence doesn’t just keep out deer, it also keeps out ticks, and it keeps my chickens in and protects them from predators. That’s 4 solid functions of the fence. But wait, there’s more!
My fence is also a giant trellis for growing vining plants! Now, the deer will probably be able to get to a lot of the fruit that is grown along the trellis, but if I’m smart about it, I should be able to put the vines in hard-to-reach areas of the fence—areas that are protected by other trees, or I could even put up a few boards on either side of the vine to protect it. Idk yet, but we’ll see how it goes. Just remember, when you build your fence, consider its multiple uses!