Eklund Garden Deer Fence Replacement

Rolling out the new fencing

Employees from MacDermid Alpha spent the day at Eklund Garden recently replacing half of the deer fencing and putting down woodchips in the garden aisles. Mark Vollaro from the Trails Committee also contributed, bringing a post pounder that helped tremendously.  Especially since it turned out there was a lot of ledge where we had planned for the fence to go. They kept trying different spots and kept hitting ledge. Frustrating! But that's Connecticut. Much of the fence was ultimately moved down the hill closer to the Eklund Bypass Trail. 

A well-earned break at Hope Lake

This time around, we wanted to attach the deer netting to posts rather than trees, because trees have a bad habit of swaying and falling down during storms, And the trees also start growing around the wire holding up the fence. We used twenty new black angle iron posts, along with a few trees where we couldn't get the posts in. Deer have been getting into the garden frequently the past few years, and the plants have had to be sprayed with deer repellent. There were so many bad spots in the fencing that it was impossible to guess which bad spot was where the deer were getting in. But with half of the fence brand new, it should be easier. 

A highlight of the day was watching an Osprey catch a fish right in front of everyone during a lunch break along the shore of nearby Hope Lake, After catching the fish, the osprey circled back around and seemed to show off his lunch to everyone below. 

Newly woodchipped aisles

Another aspect of the day at Eklund was putting down woodchips on the aisles, with paper underneath to help block perennial weeds. More chips were spread in front of the garden and down the main trail to the front gate. It looks great! And will be easier to weed. 

Some of the crew after the work was done

The new fence blends in nicely

Many thanks to everyone involved: Mark Vollaro and the employees of MacDermid Alpha for their volunteer work, as well as the Shelton Parks Department for dropping of woodchips and Specialty Agricultural Products in Orange for delivering the fencing materials.