CK Management Systems Blog

Here is an article written in the Contra Costa Times on a fence we installed for the Contra Costa Community Garden.  Our landscape construction, landscape development division did a fantastic job.  CKMS Designed and installed the gopher/squirrel fence and has kept them out.  This can be done for any resident in the Bay Area, East Bay, North Bay, South Bay, or the Peninsula but especially for clients with gopher/squirrel problems like in Palo Alto, Saratoga, Danville, Alamo, San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasonton, Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Walnut Creek, Los Altos, Tiburon, Marin, Sausalito, Mill Valley, or Belvedeere.

Our Garden: Our new fence
By Joan Morris
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 09/09/2009 10:00:00 AM PDT
Updated: 09/09/2009 10:39:34 AM PDT

Our Garden now has Our Fence. And it’s working pretty well on “our squirrels.”

The fence, built of lumber and welded wire, is sort of a Taj Mahal of fences. I was expecting some steel posts and wire, but the folks at CK Management Systems and CK Landscape really went the extra mile, cementing thick posts into the ground, running the fencing around all four plots and finishing it off with two whisper-quiet gates.

Matt Cartwright, who was in charge of the project, even recycled our old not-so-great and certainly not-so-beautiful fencing. Work crews buried it 2 feet down to stop the ground squirrels from burrowing underneath.

At the same time, Matt’s brother, Alex, found an additive for our “fertigation” system that is supposed to keep the squirrels at bay. As you may remember, the Cartwrights donated our irrigation system earlier in the season. The fertigation consists of a small tank that mixes nutrients — and anti-squirrel stuff — into the water each time the sprinklers come on.

I checked out the fence the day after it went up and found signs our furry little friends already had been testing it. There were little holes started all around the perimeter. But the buried fencing thwarted them.

With a little help from a couple of volunteers, I’ve removed the remaining old fencing and the netting, meaning we now have free and easy access to the garden. To celebrate, we harvested 16 pounds of tomatoes for the Food Bank.

We have had an incursion into the garden, but the damage has been very light. In fact, I’m starting to suspect that instead of a squirrel getting in, we’ve got one inside that is trying to get out. I’ve found a couple of gnawed tomatoes and some test holes dug from inside the compound. And earlier in the week, I found a squirrel inside.

It ran around the edge of the fence, looking for an opening, and then it just disappeared amid the tomatoes. Because it never attempted to climb the fence, I think it disappeared down a hidey hole. The next step will be to set a humane trap, capture the little guy and then return him to his friends on the outside. And he better not break his parole.

Thanks so much to Matt, Alex and their father, Gary Cartwright, for their beyond generous contribution to Our Garden.

What you missed

We skipped the class because of the Labor Day weekend.

Our Garden online

Follow the progress of the garden and check out our how-to videos. Go to Contra CostaTimes.com/ourgarden or InsideBayArea.com/ourgarden. Follow Our Garden’s progress at twitter.com/gardeneditor.

Sponsors

The Bay Area News Group-East Bay thanks Our Garden’s sponsors:

Ace, Walnut Creek Hardware, 2044 Mt Diablo Blvd., Walnut Creek, 925-705-7500

Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority, 1111 Civic Drive, Suite 275, Walnut Creek, 925-906-1801, www.wastediversion.org.

CK Management Systems, 315 Diablo Road, Suite 220, Danville, 925-943-7323, www.cklandscape.com.

Contra Costa County Cooperative Extension and Master Gardeners

Hamilton Tree Service, 127 Aspen Drive No. 211, Pacheco, 925-228-1010

Marsha McCollum Leutza, representing Botanical Interests, 337 Cleveland Ave., Petaluma, 94958

Merlot Nursery, 701 Northgate Road, Walnut Creek, 925-943-1958

Monster Worms, Dave Anderson, P.O. Box 1211, Antioch, CA 94509, 925-890-5773, MonsterWorms.com.

Mt. Diablo Nursery, 3295 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette, 925-283-3830

Orchard Nursery, 4010 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette, 925-284-4474