A wildlife-proof garden

Mandy lives on the edge of a country town in an area with lots of bush, paddocks, wallabies, possums, birds of prey and other wildlife. This blog post describes the netted enclosure and garden Mandy created. It might inspire people who live in similar environments because it demonstrates that fruit, vegetables, ornamentals and chooks can all be safe in areas where there is plenty of wildlife.

Mandy's wildlife-proof garden seen from her house

Orchards are often covered by enormous nets. These nets put enormous pressure on the posts that keep them up. To keep the posts from falling inwards as a result of this pressure thick cables run from the top of each post diagonally to the ground. These cables create a lot of wasted space around the perimeter of the netted area, but that is acceptable in most cases.

In Mandy’s case it was not okay because the area between her house and the road where she wanted to make her garden has plenty of length, but not enough width to waste it on cabling right around the perimeter.

Instead of using cables Mandy decided to use the ‘box strainer assembly’ method for keeping posts upright – the same method which is used for runs of farm fencing. With this method posts are supported as follows:

In the photo above the pole on the right holds up the net. It is supported by a horizontal rail inside the netted area. This, in turn, is supported by the vertical post on the left. A wire is then wrapped diagonally in a figure eight pattern from the left post (at the level of the rail) to the right post at the ground – when this wire is tightened it offsets the tension created at the top of the left post, which is taking the strain of the net.

The post below is done in the same way. This one has a gate attached to the face of the box assembly and therefore you can't see the diagonal “strainer wire”.

Posts are sunk into the ground at a rough 1/3 (in the ground) to 2/3 (above ground) ratio. The posts are roughly 2.4 metres above the ground. Due to the high tension created by the net, the posts need to be of a reasonable diameter and concreted into the ground.

In the photo above Mandy could have had plants right up to the fence on the left, but she chose to have a grass strip (its width is that of the box strainer assembly) all around the perimeter (see diagram below). She uses this strip for her chooks. This way they are protected by the net, but do not damage vegetation in the garden.

A diagram of Mandy's wildlife-proof garden

Mandy's cage is 30 metres long and 10 metres wide.

The pink beds are berries.  The light green areas are fruit trees and flowers.  The eight raised veggie beds are a different green.  The chook run forms the border on three sides.

The photo above shows the chook house in the perimeter strip. It is the grey box in the top right corner of the diagram above. The perimeter strip has various partitions. Periodically Mandy changes things so the chooks forage in a different part of the perimeter strip. She also uses the partitions to separate broody hens.

Below are notes Mandy provided about her garden:

Wildlife-proof net structure – to protect both produce and chickens

• Posts are concreted into the ground (1/3 below) to handle the strain of the net 
• Box strainer assembly so the structure can be fully contained (vs a cherry orchard where cables go diagonally to the ground outside the protected area) 
• Matrix of overhead wires to suspend the netting 

• Chicken wire around the base and “skirt” into the ground – protects the net from brush cutter, prevents wildlife but some small birds can still enter (for better or worse) .

• Netting is stretched over the structure and attached with netting clips (along the selvedge edge) and “sewn” on with shadecloth cord (along the cut edge). 
• The doors that provide entry to the netted area are recycled security doors (see below).

• The structure for the net also forms part of the espalier trellis and chook run.

Chook run

• Home base with chook house, plus two grassed runs down the boundary of the garden – gated to enable rotation (summer/winter or when a run needs resting) 
• ChookTred pellet feeder to minimise pests (mice/sparrows - the box in the right bottom of the photo below) 

Raised vegie beds

• Corrugated steel (1.2m x 2.4m): 4 in use, another 4 being established

Espaliered fruit trees 

• Northern (bottom) side of the area – trees on super dwarfing root stock and traditional espalier method: Apples, pears, cherries and grapes 
• Southern (top) side of the area – trees on dwarfing root stock and fan espalier method (cannot use traditional method): Peaches, apricots, plums, nectarine and kiwi fruit 
• Passionfruit on trellis inside the main entry 

Flower and herb beds – below the fruit trees

• Plan to set up a dedicated herb bed in one of the raised vegie beds 

Berries

• Dedicated beds for raspberries, currants and blue berries – tried companion planting for weed control (some successful, some not) 
• Strawberries in hanging baskets – to protect from pests (including a beagle!) – plus silvanberry and thornless blackberry on surrounding fences. 

Solar-powered lighting

• For garden floodlights and will later be used for a potting shed 

Other

• Small pond in the centre of the garden 
• Worm farm – conversion kit for wheelie bins (still testing) 

To Come

• Irrigation system – house tanks & pump installed with irrigation system to come 
• Compost bays – to install at east end of the garden 
• Potting shed and glass/green house – area outside the garden has been levelled in preparation 

Many thanks, Mandy, for sharing your inspiring design and wonderful garden with us.