The Hay Wayne: Rabbit-proofing

This weekend my father and I set about rabbit-proofing my plot. Saturday morning we picked up some large pallets (3mx1.5m) from my place of work. Each pallet was sat on 4 bearer beams which were 1.5m long and 3-4inches thick. We loaded up the pallets onto a van, took them to my Dads and started dismantling them. Once dismantled we made some points on the posts with a chop-saw. They were then treated in nice harmonious green and left to dry.

Saturday afternoon, and yesterday we put the posts in place driving them in a good 500mm to leave a metre above ground. I now have no feeling in either of my hands, and if I see another sledgehammer I'll cry. I have a 50m x 1.5m roll of chicken wire being delivered today (hopefully), and then another (30m x 1.5m) being delivered later in the week. We'll then attach it probably at the weekend, digging down and then bending out the chicken wire 90 degrees to leave approx 1 metre above ground. We'll use supports at 45 degree angles to the posts at the corners (to hold them upright), and then use some "bull wire" to support the chicker wire around the top. Hopefully, this will stop the whole thing sagging over time.

Each time I dropped the sledgehammer onto the top of the posts yesterday I said "hear that bunnies? That's the sound of the end of free meals, you little bleeders!" - ok, maybe I said that in my head, but the sentiment was there. We also dug up a load of bramble that had grown at the back of the plot - it would have compromised the fence otherwise. I can hardly wait to be fenced in. I must say, I am proud and grateful to my Dad for helping me out, he's the best!

I'll post some photos up as soon as I've taken some.

Photos added of the posts as they now stand. The photo with the two people is of my brother-in-law and his girlfriend - to give a sense of scale for my potatoes in the foreground, he is 6ft 4. Well, I was impressed!