More Freedom Through Enclosure?

The number of steps requiring completion before planting can begin are ticking down. A big step was completing our fence. Our very first post discussed the vernacular Texas fence construction techniques that we hoped to reference in our design. We had just enough branches saved up from trimming around the property to use as posts! 5 foot tall, 4"x2" hardware cloth was tied to each post, spaced about 10' on center. Aluminum wire was strung at 6' and 8' above the ground to protect against jumping deer. The openness of the hardware cloth allows us to maintain a visual connection to our neighbors.

 We utilized some of the overgrown primrose jasmine to create an arbor at one entrance.

 Gates that can easily be pulled open were created from 7' tall plastic deer fencing with 1" openings. Here we are permanently securing one end to a post. The other end was wrapped around a bamboo pole which can be secured to the other post. As you can see (or not), the plastic fencing is very fine and hard to see. The second night we had it up, a deer actually ran into it, got tangled, and dragged the gate up the street.

 We promptly added strips of reflective tape to the gates and included tags from our newly planted persimmon trees, including this one, in the hopes of finally having a "great wall."