I want to install some new metal fencing around my fruit and vegetable garden. I need to keep deer out, but also need to bury the bottom of the fencing at least a little bit for groundhogs and rabbits. They don’t generally dig under, but they can “push“ under if it’s just sitting on the surface.
So I think I only need to bury it maybe 6 inches max.
I could rent a trencher, but that’s way overkill for what I need to do. However, at 250 linear feet, it’s also a lot to do with a shovel by hand. Is there a smaller tool that I can use for this sort of thing?
My rear tine tiller… 18" wide… and with a few passes and raking the dirt out and over… you could get to 6 inch depth for that length in probably half a day.
There are kubota / case…mini 3500 lb excavators … that can be rented for 320.00 per day in Nashville TN.
The “Orange” Store shows a landscape trencher that goes 0 to 13 inches, but there aren’t many stores that rent them. That is definitely more in line with what I would need versus these gigantic things that make a 48 inch deep, 2 foot wide trench. It only has to be a couple inches wide and maybe 6 inches deep, max. I don’t want it so deep that I can’t stabilize the t-posts because of the loosened ground, but not too shallow to where critters could make their way under it.
The hardest part of it will honestly be reusing the t-posts from my existing deer netting. The deer netting worked for years, but they have figured out how to get through it. The problem is even if I trench maybe 6 inches further out for the new fencing, it’s not going to be a single day job, so there will be a period of time where it’s not totally sealed up. Since I will have to take down the old stuff in order to reuse the t-posts.
As you know, deer can destroy an entire Orchard in a matter of hours even in winter if they decide the twigs are tasty.
(a picture of my modified mattock)
or a grub hoe/root hoe
(a picture of an SHW grub hoe from the internet)
and depending on the type and the condition of the soil, as well as your physical capabilities, could be accomplished in the course of a single day.
The mattock pictured above started life as a cutter mattock. I cut off the axe side of the head once I discovered how useless it was for cutting roots (I already had a dedicated root chopping axe which excels at the task) and I rived out a wooden handle much longer than the 36 inch ones that they come with at the store (mine stands as high as my sternum), which allows me to work without having to bend over as far. I also own an SHW root hoe, but I prefer the more narrow mattock head unless I am trying to move a lot of soil.
I’ve thought about renting a walk behind trencher a few times but never did. I have rented a mini excavator a half dozen times now. You can get buckets of various sizes for different projects, even 12” ones. And they’re kind of fun!
I would hazard a guess that increasing the handle length and having someone skilled observe your technique for improvements might yield positive results.
I’d think 3-4 inches would be deep enough. In friable soil I could do that with any number of hand tools. I recently hand dug a 12 inch by 100 ft trench by hand. That ground had grass and tree roots. Not easy by any means. But I did a job that plumbers wanted $3300 to do for about $200.
If it’s not rocky and full of roots you can drive a spade straight down and wave it back and forth to make a narrow trench, but you’ll be awfully sore by the end of the day!
I’d probably start with a pick or mattock. And I agree with @fruitnut that three or four inches is probably deep enough. I just finished doing 80 feet of lawn/sidewalk edging in less than an hour - drive the half-moon tool down about five inches and waggle it around to cut the grass, repeat until finished. That kind of approach might work for you.
