Electric Deer Fence Installation

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I hate deer.  They live to break the branches of any fruit tree they can get to.  This includes 1/2" thick branches right at the trunk -- I suppose they think it's a challenge.  Any branches that survive end up stripped of leaves.  Oh, and they really like apples (even ones that are bagged).

It's not just fruit trees they fancy.  We planted six or seven heirloom tomato plants that Carrie grew from seeds this year.  They grew up nicely and then the deer broke through the "fencing" and ate both the tomatoes and the plant.  Once wasn't enough. As they continued their snacking throughout the season, they also ate unripe watermelons (who knew), all of our strawberry plants, and the last few pounds of our muscadine grapes.

So after several broken branches, endless swearing at the evil that is deer netting (we never caught a deer, though the mower caught its fair share of deer netting), and much debate over what type of fence to build, we finally decided to try an electric fence.  A solar powered electric fence using polywire (seen photo above) to be exact.  We already had the T-posts from the failed attempt at using deer netting as fencing (never do this unless you want to catch rat snakes).  The remaining parts we ordered from Amazon and The Deer-Shock Depot (very helpful people).

For anyone wanting to install one, I'll go over what we did. For anyone that has done so before and sees potential problems, please let me know.  A small garden (ours was 70'x40') can be done in a weekend once you have the charger charged and the parts ready.  I make no claims that this is the best way to do this, so be sure to read your equipment directions.

The Parts

First the tools we used (all of these can be found at Lowes or Home Depot except for the tester):

• T-Post Driver - Strongly suggested as a hammer will not drive them deep enough.
• Post Hole Digger - Needed for wooden post to mount the solar powered charger.
• Fence Tester - One with a voltage readout and made by the same company as the charger is recommended.  Do not use a normal voltmeter.
• 2' Level - To aid in leveling the T-Posts so they are straight.
• Wire Cutter and Stripper - For cutting the polywire and heavily insulated hook-up wire.
• Hammer - For driving the grounding rods in (after the T-Post Driver does most of the work).
• Philips Screwdriver - For connecting the grounding wire.

Now for the actual fencing items:

• Solar Powered Charger - Buy the most powerful one you can find. Parmak 12v or Parmak 6v.
• T-Posts - We used 6' ones, spaced 15' apart plus an extra one for the "gate."  (Lowes/HD)
• 1 - 4"x4"x8' Wooden Post - For mounting the solar powered charger. (Lowes/HD)
• Polywire - Multiply number of lines by fence perimeter.
• Insulated Hookup Wire - Connects the charger to the grounding rod and fence. 25' or more depending on the number of grounding rods used.
• T-Post Insulators - To hold the wire away from the T-Post. Multiply number of posts by number of lines being run.  We used yellow 2" offset insulators.
• 10 Polywire Clamps - Used to splice together polywire and used at line ends.
• 6' or 8' Ground Rod and Clamps - One clamp per rod, 1-3 grounding rods depending on soil and fence length.
• Split Bolt Clamps - Connects hookup wire to fence (very useful).
• Gate Handle and Gate Anchor Kit - 1 per line run.
• Line Tightener for Polywire - 1-2 per line run to add tension to the wire.
• Warning Signs - At least 1 per fence side.
• 2 - 2.5" Decking Screws - For mounting the solar powered charger. (Lowes/HD)
• Bait - Aluminum foil and peanut butter or scent caps every 20'.

The more expensive items will be the charger ($150-$300), the posts ~$4/each, the post driver $25, the grounding rod ~$20/each, and possibly the tester.  Good polywire is around $21 per 656' and has a 5-year UV warranty.  Even if it doesn't last as long as aluminum wire, I suggest using polywire for its ease of installation and its ability to be rolled up if you need to change your fence layout.

This may also be a good time to signup for a free 30-day Amazon Prime trial to get  free, fast shipping on almost all of the items above. If you're ordering things in batches or want to make sure that your items are delivered as quickly as possible, it's great.

I suggest running at least two charged lines.  One around 1' to 1.5' from the ground, and one around 4'.  If you keep your area very clear, you may want to run the lower line 6"-8" above the ground to prevent the deer from trying to crawl under.  We ran an additional line in between those and connected it to ground.  If a deer touches it and a charged line it will receive a full shock from the charger, though I do not know how often this will happen.

Proper grounding is very important, so do not skimp on the length and number of grounding rods.  Without adequate grounding, the charge produced may not be enough to deter the deer.

So for maybe $300-$500, depending on the charger and length, you can install an electric fence.  And even if you do install a nicer fence later, you will likely want to keep the electric fence as an outer defense.

Preparation

First, we picked a location near the fence that received sun for most of the day as the site for the charger.  If you don't have a sunny spot, then you will have to investigate using an AC powered charger or manually charge the battery every few weeks (two batteries would be recommended if you do this).  Our charger does make a bit of a ticking noise as it pulses, so you may not want to install it too close to a patio or deck if that bothers you.  Be sure to check your charger's manual for other guidelines on selecting a location.

Next we calculated the fence's perimeter and determined how many wires to run.  This determines how much wire and how many posts, insulators, and "gate" items we needed.  Note that the "gate" is just an insulated handle that you will unhook to get into the garden after turning off the power to the fence.  For this reason, we mounted the charger near the gate.  We bought a slinky style spring gate but decided not to use it as we will be turning the power to the fence off whenever we go into the garden.

About two weeks before installation we sprayed some herbicide on the weeds growing under the perimeter of the fence.  Weeds that touch the fence wires will cause a short to ground which greatly lowers the voltage that is delivered, so proper upkeep is important.

Finally, a week before installation we started charging the solar powered charger by simply setting it on the ground facing south into the sun with its power off.  We made sure all the other parts were ready to go so that we did not run the wires and then realize that we could not complete the installation.  Knowing our deer, they would have torn down the uncharged fence and run off with the polywire.  I hate deer.

Installation

We picked a sunny weekend to avoid trying to install the fence in wet conditions -- probably not the best time to install an electrical fence.

First up was getting the T-posts driven into the ground properly.  Since our insulators face forward on the T-post (the side with the bumps), we had to pull and re-drive the corner posts.  This was done to prevent the polywire from coming into contact with the T-posts as the wire bent around the corners.  If the wire touches the T-post it will likely short to ground, so this should always be avoided.  At each corner, we aimed the T-post forward (bumps facing) the center of the garden.  When the wire is later run, it will go through the insulator on the inside corners of the fence.  For the other T-posts, we aimed them facing forward outside of the fence so that any deer pushing against the wire would be pushing the wire into the insulator and into the post.

For the "gate," we installed one T-post about 5' from another T-post.  This gave us a place to install a handle onto the end of the wire.  You simply unhook the handle from the gate anchor (a piece of metal with a hole for the handle hook that is attached to the T-post with a custom insulator) to get into the gate.

Next we dug a hole about 2.5' deep for the wooden post.  Once leveled, we tamped the dirt around it and mounted the solar powered charger to it with two screws.  After that came the grounding rod.  These are not a lot of fun to drive into the ground being 6'-8' long.  A combination of watering and using the T-post driver worked pretty well, and we finally got all but about 10" into the ground.  We're currently only using one rod until we can come up with the final fence layout in the spring.  Since our dirt is fairly dry and sandy, we'll definitely be wiring in another one (about 10' apart) next year (possibly sooner if it doesn't start raining more).

Using the insulated "hook-up" wire, we connected the black terminal on the charger to the grounding rod with the grounding rod clamp.  Whenever connecting the wire, we used the largest (10 gauge) hole on the wire strippers to remove about an inch of insulation.

Next, we cut a piece of hook-up wire about 6" longer than the distance between the two fence wires that would be charged.  We then made a 90 degree bend about 3" in from each end of the wire to form a "C".  After stripping 1" from the ends of the wire, we used a split-bolt clamp to connect the insulated wire to the top run of the fence.  Before connecting this to the bottom polywire run, we ran another piece of insulated wire from the red terminal on the charger to the connection point.  Finally, we connected the bottom polywire run, the insulated wire attached to the top run, and the insulated wire from the charger together using a split-bolt clamp.

That was about it for installation.  We did run one additional middle wire and connect the grounding rod to it. After this, the only thing left to do was to attach the polywire line tighteners in the middles of each run to add a bit of tension to the wire.  We didn't over tighten the wire to avoid breaking it or any insulators.

Testing

Finally it was time to test.  To make sure the charger is outputting the proper voltage, we temporarily disconnected to wires from the terminals and connected the fence tester to them.  Our Parmak 6V charger measured 6500V which is quite a bit under its 9000V specification.  Then we hooked the wires back to the terminals and tested each polywire against the grounding rod and also got a 6500V reading.  Testing against true earth ground in various places along the fence is a little weird, but it hopefully gives a better indication of how many grounding rods we need.

Update: I contacted Parker McCrory who make the Parmak 6V solar charger that we purchased and was told that 4500V-7500V is "normal" for this unit even though it claims 9000V output.  When asked how one could get 9000V out of the unit the response was "I dunno."  So if you have a long fence or do not feel like baiting it, I would suggest getting their 12V unit which he claimed would output 7000V-9000V.

Baiting

The last step was to bait the fence.  Some people bait their fence and some people use repellent on the fence. Since we had bait, we opted for that choice.  Every 15' around the fence we wrapped a doubled-up piece of aluminum foil around the polywire and applied a bit of peanut butter to the foil.  The idea is to "train" the deer the avoid the fence and hopefully prevent them from trying to knock it down or jump over it.

Maintenance

The goal now is to simply keep weeds off the fence wires and check the voltage using the tester periodically.  If the solar panel gets dirty we'll just wipe it off with a damp towel.

Results

This is what I came home to two days after finishing the installation.  I'm a bit worried that they're already trying to come up with a way to get past the fence.  I'll post some more results after it has been running for a while.  Last fall and early spring were the worst times, so I'm definitely curious to see how it will fair then.  For now it seems to be working, but I'm sure the deer will just move on to something else in the yard...

Oh, one last thing: I hate deer.

Update

Be sure to continue baiting the fence and always make sure to turn it on at night.  The fence worked great until we forgot to turn the charger back on for a week.  I would also suggest getting the stronger 12V charger if possible if you are in an area with strong deer pressure or might have some weeds touching a charged line.  We had up to 10 come through our yard at a time.

Starting the 2010 Garden

It's finally starting to warm up a bit here, and our peach and plum trees are starting to bloom. After seeing what a 2' tall plum tree can do in a year, we decided to replace an older plum that never seemed to take off. We also recently replaced our Granny Smith apple that the deer destroyed last fall with a Liberty apple tree. A few weeks ago we planted 15 blackberries in with the fruit trees. Hopefully we'll be able to get our new fence up before long and keep the deer out.

Carrie ordered quite a bit of seed this year including several types of heirloom tomatoes and some new types of peppers. We started the seeds on a heating mat with a 4' long fluorescent shop light above them. Most everything seems to be growing well so far, other than a few of the flowers.

Yesterday we also managed to get the seed potatoes that Carrie ordered planted. We planted about 110' of potatoes, so we'll be searching for places to store them if they all decide to grow.

Next up, we'll be building a few more raised beds (hopefully the last row of them). The plan is to give the tomatoes and peppers a bit more space than they had last year. After that, we have some grass seed to put out and a fence to build. Oh, and three bee hives to setup...

Fall Plantings

It's been two months since the last update, and we had a light frost the other day. We pulled up the peanuts two weekends ago and got roughly 12lbs from about 12' of plants. Probably about one third of the shells were empty or only had one peanut, so we'll need to get a soil test done and possibly add some calcium (Gypsum) into the soil next year when they flower. We'll also start them a few weeks earlier next year and water them a good bit better, especially when they're flowering.

The Ichiban eggplants have won the award for the longest, most productive plant in the garden. The three plants are still producing a large number of eggplants, though I imagine that will stop soon now that the highs should be closer to the lows 60s. The asparagus also did very well this year though what we planted in the raised beds did better than what we planted in the ground. We should certainly be able to harvest some next year.

For the fall garden, Carrie started two types of carrots near the end of August that should be getting close to ready. In the second week of September she planted several salad greens: Corn Salad Mache Vit, Kyona Mizuna, Red Russian (Red Kale), Winterbor Kale (Green Kale), Oak Leaf Lettuce, Big Boston Lettuce. She also planted some Ruby Perfection Cabbage, Arcadia Broccoli, Red Ace Beets, and Brilliant Celerica. We used row covers for all of these to keep the deer and rabbits away, and so far they all seem to be doing well.

So far we've used the Kyona Mizuna and the Red Kale in salads and both were very good. The other greens should be ready within a week or two.

Weekend before last we also planted two more blueberry bushes bringing out total to seven. Our first row contains the following: one Bluebelle, one Tif Blue, two Southland, and a Sunshine Blue. We just added a second row containing: Alapaha, and Ochlockonee. We might add a few more in the back if we find room for them, and we need to add one more Southern Highbush to help pollinate the Sunshine Blue.

Last weekend some deer managed to break into the orchard area and broke several branches on all of the fruit trees. They also managed to rub a fair amount of the bark off several trunks and larger branches. Hopefully they well all make it, but we will definitely be working on getting a permanent fence around the area this winter.

Watermelon!!!

The watermelon haven't stopped growing, and for the last three weeks we've been trying to eat them faster than they go bad. We're now losing, so I've had to throw four or five in the compost bin already (the honey bees love them). Luckily there are still several that developed later and provide more than enough watermelon each week. We managed to get two that were over 20lbs which seems a bit odd for the Sugar Baby variety, but they tasted great so no complaints.

The Jarrahdale pumpkins that we planted are now wilting and turning yellow from what appears to be bacterial wilt. We still have four or five pumpkins that look like they'll make it, but we will have to find a better variety next year since nothing seems to stop the squash bugs and cucumber beetles.

We started harvesting the second planting of Pink Eye Purple Hull peas yesterday along with a second harvest on the first plants. The second plantings of soybeans appear to be very close to being ready, and the Lima beans are getting close as well. The eggplants are still growing like crazy, and we probably have 30 or more on them right now.

Last weekend we started on some fall plantings by sowing some carrot seed in one of the raised beds. We'll continue with the fall plantings as soon as Carrie finishes deciding what we should plant.

Some color!

The sunflowers started blooming just as we made it to August (we did start them a bit late this year). Since they've done pretty well without much effort on our part and look very cool, we'll have to plant more next year assuming the birds don't steal all the seeds.

We picked our first crop of Edamame (Envy) yesterday which was roughly 3.5lbs (in the shell) for two rows of plants about 6' long. Next year I think we'll try giving them a bit more space and try using an inoculant to fix more nitrogen into the soil. Our second crop is now flowering, so we should be ready to harvest more around the first of September.

We've also harvested about 3lbs (shelled) of Pink-Eye Purple-Hull peas from one 6' row of plants. They are still producing, and we have another section in one of our raised beds that should start producing in a few weeks.

The Lima beans in both the front and the back are starting to flower finally, and they look very healthy so far. The two green beans that germinated in the raised bed are flowering as well, so maybe we will get a few green beans after all.

The peanuts in the back (that were planted a bit too late) started flowering a little over a week ago. I'm still not very hopeful that they will produce anything before it frosts, but they are at least getting bigger after the rain this week.

We did manage to get a small crop of strawberries that started a few weeks ago. These were from our everbearing strawberries that we planted this year in one raised bed and in the back. The raised bed was almost entirely filled in, so we decided to let them go. It then turned into a fight again slugs (won mostly by using Sluggo) and birds. Next year we'll be sure to use the row covers as much as possible to keep the birds off.

The pumpkins have turned into a breeding ground for squash bugs, and cucumber beetles are in love with them as well. One vine wilted the other day, so I'm guessing one of the squash-vine-borers I saw managed to hide an egg on it. So for now, we'll continue to squish squash bug eggs, fend off the beetles, and hope that maybe we'll get a pumpkin or two.

Finally some rain...

It's been over a month, but we finally got about 1/3rd of an inch of rain this week. The soybeans are still doing great though, and the pink-eye-purple-hull peas are finally starting to look like peas. The Lima beans in the back seem to have recovered from the heat, and both those and the ones in the raised bed seem to be doing well now. The green beans were pretty much a failure as I was unable to get them to sprout even on a moist paper towel. Hopefully next year we'll have better luck with seeds from a different company.

One of our zucchini plants completely wilted in just over a day from what appeared to be squash vine borers despite having row covers over it until just before it started blooming. Unfortunately I did not know what to check for before we removed the plant, but a few days later we saw one of the moths on the neighboring zucchini. I had to prune the surviving plant a bit to remove stems that appeared to have been recently bored into. So far the remaining plant is doing well and is producing plenty of zucchini. I also planted a few more seeds just to see if they'd produce a late crop. In the fall we will have to till the bed a bit and remove any caterpillars that managed to survive.

The melons all seem to be doing very well, and we should have over 20 watermelons if they all make it. Hopefully it will rain some more this week and help them along.

Happy (late) 4th of July

Another week and the tomatoes are all beginning to ripen along with several zucchini.  We still have had almost no rain -- nothing longer than 10minutes a couple of times.  Luckily the plants are still doing fine with some drip irrigation and a once-a-week watering for the plants and trees in the back.We did learn why not to use row covers in 90+ degree weather even for new seedlings.  The Lima beans got a bit crispy under it, although the peanuts, watermelon, and pumpkins did fine.  The green beans (Heavyweight II) that we planted in both the back and in a raised bed on the side of the yard are not doing so well.  So far only one or two have come up out of about 20.  Maybe they will live up to their name, and we'll have plenty.

We also seem to have had much better luck planting shelled peanuts instead of leaving them in the shells.  The directions suggested both methods depending on the climate, but so far none of the in-shell peanuts have come up.  All of the shelled ones have, so we're hoping that there will be enough time for them to grow as we planted them pretty late this year.
On the bright side, the watermelon are growing very quickly, and we seem to have several (11-12) from 3 mounds that are larger than a softball.  The cantaloupes are doing pretty well (3-4) and we have one that is now larger than a baseball.  Unfortunately, the watermelon seem to be doing a little too well and are taking over the entire area.  It will be interesting to see how big they get in another week.

Where's the rain?

It's been at least two weeks since we've gotten any rain and there is none in the forecast for the  rest of the week.  So far everything is doing pretty well with the help of the mulch and the drip irrigation in the raised beds. The grass could definitely use some rain as it's getting a bit crispy.
The tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are still looking good and we're starting to get several ripe cherry tomatoes, Romas, and a few Better Boy. The two zucchini that we planted in a 10' long raised bed with some basil and two soybeans are now trying to take over the entire bed. The zucchini should start flowering this week.
The first 60' long row that we started around the end of May is doing very well. From east to west, we planted a few sets of Sugar Baby watermelon, Sierra Gold cantaloupe, and Poinsett 76 slicing cucumbers. We then planted a few feet of Envy soybeans in two closely spaced rows and then roughly 6' of Pink Eye Purple Hull Peas. We also planted about 12' of asparagus in early May on the east end of the row in a permanent location.
As a bit of an experiment, we planted another set of watermelons at the end of the row in a strip of black landscape fabric that had been there for the last two years. We did not till the area and rake it into a hill as we did with the rest of the row, but I thought I'd try as I had read about the benefits of using black plastic and thought the landscape fabric would work out.  This turned out to be a bit of a mistake as only 3 of the 5 seeds came up (we had close to 100% germination in the raised rows).  The ones in the fabric took twice as long to germinate and are now only 2.5' in diameter vs over 6' for the ones in the rows.  Next year we might try using some black plastic on the actual raised rows and will start a little earlier.  So far we have several small (less than 1") sized watermelons developing, though I have not seen any cantaloupe or cucumbers yet.It has been a week since we planted the 2nd row in the back and most of what we planted has germinated.  All of the Lima beans that we planted have germinated, several of the green beans, all of the watermelon, and almost all of the pumpkins have germinated.  The peanuts that we removed from the shell have germinated as well.  We will see how much longer the non-shelled peanuts take.

Carrie pulled up the remaining garlic and shallots from one and a quarter of our raised beds, and yesterday we planted another batch of Lima beans, green beans, and Pink Eye Purple Hull peas.  I made another batch of compost tea and sprayed most of the veggies and fruit trees.  Carrie harvested about 7oz of blueberries, and finally, we noticed that two of our hazelnut bushes have a few (12-15 total) nuts forming on them -- not bad I guess considering two of them finally made it into the ground this year.

New Plantings (Beans, Peanuts, and Pumpkins)

Yesterday (June 22) we spent a few hours preparing a 60' long strip behind our apple trees in the back.  We used the same process that worked very well for the last row that we did along the front of the fruit trees.  First we tilled the strip 4' wide with the tractor and roughly 8" deep.  Next I ran the 4" wide hoe down the sides while Carrie pulled the extra dirt onto the top.  The result was a raised mound about 3' wide at the base and around 1.5' at the top.  The final step was to move about 25 loads of wood chips and composted horse manure (yay for neighbors with horses) to fill in down the sides of the strip and between the apple trees.  This was done mostly to keep the weeds down, but it should also help build the soil up a bit more.

We then planted a small 4' section of green beans (Heavyweight II), a 12' section of lima beans (Fordhook 242), an 18' section of peanuts (Jumbo Virgina), another mound of watermelon (Sugar Baby), and two mounds of pumpkins (Jarrahdale and Small Sugar).  Finally we put row covers down and watered in a bit since the temperatures have been in the 90s.

It may be a bit too late to plant the peanuts, but we figured we'd give it a chance since the last stuff germinated quickly.  I'll post a few pictures once the plants start to come up.

Blueberries, Cucumbers, Eggplants, and Basil

I thought I'd try to use the blog to keep track of when our fruit and vegetables started to ripen. That way we will have a better idea of what we can expect next year, and we can also see how bed location affects production and growth rate. (We're both engineers, so there's no avoiding our nerdiness.)

Yesterday was the first day that I was able to pick enough blueberries for a decent picture. Most of these were from one of our five plants, and these were only about 1/4^th of the blueberries on that plant.  The other plants, which are different varieties, still have mostly green berries.  I would expect those to take at least a few more weeks before they start ripening.  I'll go over the varieties we have and how we planted them soon.

We planted three pickling cucumbers that Carrie got from the Apex farmer's market the first or second week of May (see I knew there was a reason to write this stuff down).  We put them in a raised bed with three eggplants and three tomatillos.  They started producing about the end of the first week in June and have been going non-stop ever since.  We were getting 4 to 5 cucumbers a day, though I picked 8 yesterday and 13 today.  In the last two weeks we've picked around 40 to 50.  The plants seem to be quite "happy" so far, which is understandable considering what they're growing in.  I now fear what the two squash plants are going to do as well as the other cucumbers in the back.

Carrie made 2 quarts of refrigerated sliced dill pickles the other day, so once we get a chance to try them I'll go over the recipe she used.  Hopefully they are edible because she's in the kitchen now making several more jars in an attempt to keep up with the plants' production.  I have a feeling we're going to need more jars...

In the same raised bed as the cucumbers, we planted three 3" seedling Ichiban eggplants in mid-May.  (The Ichiban variety are a bit more slender than the normal globe shaped kinds, though they taste the same.)  Earlier last week we harvested one 7-8" long eggplant from each plant.  Today there were three to four 2-3" eggplants on each plant with several flowers blooming, so it looks like we'll get quite a few this summer.

The bugs seem to love the foilage on these, and the Japanese Beetles do not want to leave them alone.  The plants seem to be plenty healthy, though if we had set these out much later, we would definitely have needed row covers.

Next year we might try some of the globe shaped kind since they are should have a better "meat" to seed ratio.

We needed to thin out some of our basil, so I'll include it since it tasted just fine in our pasta Friday night :).  Carrie direct seeded it in a 3' row in one of the raised beds in mid-May.  We've had a row-cover over it ever since, which is why I think it looks so good right now.  I think the plan is to start some more shortly to extend the growing season.

... 3 years later

So it has been a little less than three years since we finished building our house in Apex, NC on 2.5 acres. This photo was taken just after we finished in September, 2006. Since then we've made a few changes and done a "little" bit of yard work.

The back half of our yard was covered in kudzu and several privet (also covered in kudzu). We had some help getting it cleared and have managed to get it under control with frequent mowing and a little Roundup.  Unfortunately it won't grow on the buildings and delivery truck behind us.

Before Clearing	After Clearing

I suppose I should actually be thankful(?) that the kudzu was there as it is a legume, and it seems to have done an excellent job fertilizing the soil for what has now replaced it.  We still have small shoots pop up in various places, but it is easy to mow over and will hopefully get the idea that it is no longer welcome in the next couple of years.  However, I have no doubt that if we went on vacation for 2 years that it would look like the 'before' picture when we got back.

Today the back looks a little different.  The pine trees and Sweetgums have grow a bit and now fight for control of the property line.  We "fenced" in a 80' x 35' area where we planted a small orchard.  Currently we have 2 peach trees, 2 plum trees, 1 fig tree, 5 apple trees, and 3 pawpaw trees (to the right outside the fence).  Along the front row of trees we planted around 35 strawberries and in front of those we planted melons and beans.  Just behind the fence, we have 6 different muscadine vines on 2 trellises.  Behind and to the left of that we have 3 walnut trees and 2 chestnut trees.  We'll be planting a few pecan trees behind those next year and that should be it for fruit and nut trees.  (The fenced in areas that you see are around the nut trees and are an attempt to keep the deer from destroying them before they get a chance to grow.)

We have a vegetable garden that we started this year in 10 raised beds to the northeast of our house as well as 3 hazelnut shrubs from the Arbor Day Foundation.  To the south of the garden we have planted 5 blueberry bushes and will try to propagate 3 to 4 more this year.  We also managed to get a drip irrigation system installed before the temperature hit 95.

In addition to all of that, we seeded our yard with TifBlair Centipede. It looks great after just two years in the front yard, but it is taking a while to defeat the crabgrass in the back yard.  (I'll go into more detail on how not to seed your yard at some point).  We have also been working on a fairly large (2000+ ft²) bed in the front yard which is finally ready for a few more plants and trees.
Last summer we had a detached 2-car garage built, and just recently finished adding a patio and sidewalk to it this month.  The garage was required(?) after Carrie decided last spring that we should get a sub-compact utility tractor (Kubota BX2350) -- who was I to argue :)?  The tractor is amazing, and there is definitely no way we could have finished as much stuff as we have done on the yard and garden without it.  I'll do a little review of it and the attachments we have soon.

So that is where we are today (June 20^th, 2009).  Hopefully we're closer to being able to enjoy the yard, but I know we'll never be done with all the work in it.  We'll be adding to the blog to write about things we've done in the past few years in more detail as well as all the gardening related things we'll do in the future.  We'll also be using the blog to help us remember what we've planted in different beds so that we can do proper crop rotations the following year.  Hopefully we'll learn a little along the way and the plants won't turn against us :)...

Feel free to leave comments offering advice or letting us know how crazy we are!