Perhaps a silly question - fenced garden within a paddock?

[SmartAlex]

[QUOTE=Pehsness;7851840]
It’s perfect!! Absolutely stunning. I hope you don’t mind if I replicate it. :D[/QUOTE]

Feel free

Here is the blog on how we constructed the raised beds. We just used 4x4 [URL=“http://2manytomatoes.blogspot.com/2010/04/raised-beds-half-laps.html”]half lapped at the ends.

Some details about the fencing.

My husband even routed the downspouts from the garden shed (and the back of our house) into a collection tank and has a sump pump rigged to a spigot for watering. In know electric and running water aren’t always possible in a garden but they sure make life easier.

The gravel around the beds makes an excellent heat collector and my garden is always a few degrees warmer than the rest of the yard. On a spring evening you can walk out there and feel the warmth radiating up. Easy to weed. Easy to maintain. But what I like most about it is no matter how wet our spring is, I can still tip toe out there in good shoes and plant my peas and carrots while everyone else in town is waiting to rototill the mud.

[Frog_Pond]

SmartAlex, that garden is gorgeous! OP, I think your idea is doable, but I would definitely suggest including at least one hot wire to your barricade. My horses got into my mother’s garden when I was a kid and it looked like it had been bombed. They stomped, they wandered, they tore plants up and spit them out. And they weren’t even really trying to be jerks, they’re just huge herbivores. Good luck!

[Ruth0552]

I did this, this year. We pounded in steel t-posts and did no-climb around the outside, and put a hot wire on the top.

It worked out great. The area was a paddock first, and we fenced an area along the edge of the paddock fence. It doesn’t sound like your will be a paddock first, but if it is, the horses WILL compact the soil. My dad rototilled it with a tractor pulled rototiller, but said the rototiller made noises and did things he’d never seen it do before.

The horses did scratch against the posts too, which led to them leaning over, which led to loose fence. We never intended to leave it in year-round though, so at the end of the harvest we took it out. Now it’s just paddock again, and we’re planning on putting it all back in next spring as soon as we get mud in the hopes that it won’t be as compacted.

Here’s some pics. It’s not nearly as nice as SmartAlex’s, but it worked for us for the year.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s68/Trigtutor/10457943_10152558463905449_6249508439201874289_n_zpsf25bf955.jpg

[McGurk]

Smart Alex, that is a lovely set up. We have something similar, though not as elegant.

To the OP, yes, this is doable. We did ours entirely with Hotwire, as critters in the garden are a serious problem. Hubby, who is the gardener, felt that having the garden inside two fences is a big deterrent to the deer. Hot wire down low keeps rabbits and groundhogs out. We also have rain barrels on the eaves of the barn which help with the watering.

I think no climb with hot wire on top would work. I’d be tempted to put another strand of wire down low on the outside to keep smaller critters out.

[DressageFancy]

[QUOTE=Pehsness;7851317]
But… I want charming! I think I can still get charming without the pickets… no climb with a top wooden rail maybe? Decorative post caps?

So it’s not a crazy idea provided I can make it horse proof? We really need to maximize space.[/QUOTE]

Add a solar charger and electric wire on the out side of the top board.

[SmartAlex]

A hot wire will also keep out the raccoons. It’s about the only thing that will. And if you’ve never had a coon problem in the garden, trust me, you don’t want one.
Just position it so the coon, while climbing over the fence, has no option but to grab a hot wire. Insulators sticking up right along the top rail are nice. So is the “Kiy Yi Yi Yi” fading into the distance as Mr. Coon heads home on the double time to lick his fingers. :winkgrin: It might wake you up in the middle of the night, but you’ll fall back to sleep with a smile on your face knowing your tomatoes are sleeping sound.

[zipperfoot]

OP, thanks for starting this thread! We’re planning to put in a big garden along the side of our sacrifice lot next year (supposed to be this year but didn’t happen), so I’m getting a lot of ideas.

SmartAlex–your garden is gorgeous!

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

So “no-climb” to me is woven and has to be stretched and that would be a huge pita. Then there is welded wire, which I wouldn’t use unless you made it hot on the outside. If you are going hot on the outside, why not just use electric? I think it can be relatively pretty anyway: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g3pyRZ40R6g/U-uR0sED1PI/AAAAAAAAA4Q/gvEkOuME_cw/s1600/20140619_085232.jpg No, you won’t hurt my feelings if you find my cross fencing ugly. The big downside is rabbits of course, and that is a big problem.
Finally there are hog panels or cattle panels, like in the picture from SmartAlex.

You can buy 2"x4" 5’ tall x 16’ long horse panels on special order from TSC (they are not as cheap as the hog or cattle panels). http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/horse-fence-panel-5-ft-x-16-ft what I would do if you are going fancy. I have toyed with doing something like Smart Alex’s fencing with the heavy-guage horse panels, for one side of my back yard that meets the pasture. It would be nice to avoid bracing. It would separate dogs and horses (although it turns out the tape is enough deterrent). Regardless, I would also use a corner, as suggested, so you don’t have to double gate. I am afraid a larger square could be dangerous, but ymmv.

I’m not trying to be picky, I’m just not sure everyone is talking about the same thing?