Raised Garden Beds Keep Veggies Above the Rodents

[Nancy Caroli]

I've been searching for a way to actually GET vegetables from my garden. Have been sharing too much with the rodents! I live 1/4 mile s. of Carefree Hwy. in the middle of ground squirrel land. So I decided to tour some nearby successful gardens: the organic garden at The Boulders Resort and the organic garden behind El Encanto Dos, a resturant on Carefree Hwy and 12th Street. Both use raised beds approximately 2 ft. high. My favorite raised bed garden can be found on the website of landscape architect and our own Phoenix Permaculture Guild member, Jennie Cure. Take a look at: http://www.jenniecure.com/communitygarden.html. The raised bed has 4"x4" posts at each corner so that shade cloth, chicken wire or bird netting can be added when needed. I plan to attach hardware cloth to the bottom of the structure to keep burrowing friends from entering from below. Anyone have experience with raised beds for vegetables?

[Nancy Caroli]

Hi Denise,
Thanks for your input. I don't plan to enclose the garden with a solid wall. I thought it would be easier to attach hardware cloth to the bottom of the garden bed frame than to dig down 2 feet to install chicken wire. I don't know how small a hole a ground squirrel can crawl through. Field mice can fit through a hole the size of a dime!
I'm thinking of having four 2" x 6" cedar boards set vertically to make each side 2 ft tall. Then chicken wire or hardware cloth will have to be installed vertically above that. Hopefully, there are other Permies out there with experiences they'll share.
Nancy