written 8/5/2024, updated 9/6/2025
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Overview
What
Temporary/disassembly-possible enclosure for patio and deck plants using PVC pipe and hardware cloth, featuring doors
Why
Thieving squirrels, birds, and deer yet still allowing pollinators, air, sun, and rain through
Time and Effort
Time: Several hours to 1 day (maybe more)
Difficulty: Moderate (depends on your equipment and material situation)
This is what started it all. My beautiful cantaloupe brazenly stolen and eaten right in front of my eyes by a crafty yet cute squirrel
Materials and Cost
All materials bought from Amazon and Home Depot
Material
1″ 4ft PVC Pipe
1″ 6ft PVC Pipe
16-gauge 2′ x 50′ Hardware Cloth Roll
200′ 16-gauge Galvanized Steel Wire
1″ PVC Hinges
1″ 90 Degree Elbow Fitting
1″ 3-Way Fitting
1″ Tee Fitting
Cabinet Hardware Pulls
Quantity
12 pipes
5 pipes
31ft
0.5 Roll
4 Hinges
8 Fittings
8 Fittings
2 Fittings
2 Pulls
TOTAL
Use Price
$80.40
$43.99
$24.80
$3.97
$36.68
$11.84
$26.00
$3.94
$4.38
$236.00
Owned Supplies:
Needle Nose Pliers
Linesman’s Pliers
Diagonal Cutting Pliers
Ratcheting PVC Cutter
Sharpie
Measuring Tape
Digital Calipers
Rubber Mallet
Bits/Driver
Screw Gauge
Planning and Schematics
Note: Drawings not to scale
Dimensions (L x W x H)
Outer Dimensions: 45″ x 22″ x 53″
Door Dimensions: 20.5″ x 49″
Fitting Dimensions
3-Way (Formufit brand – 8 qty)
1¼ ” + 1⅜” = 2⅝” length
1.25in + 1.375in = 2.625in
90 Degree (Charlotte Pipe brand – 8 qty)
1½” + 1⅛” = 2⅝”
1.5in + 1.125in = 2.625in
Tee (Charlotte Pipe brand – 2 qty)
⅞” + 1⅜” + ⅞” = 3⅛”
0.875in + 1.375in + 0.875in = 3.125in
Pipe Lengths
Remember that the ends of the pipes will fit into the fittings. All measurements are approximate. Actual item dimensions may vary
Outer Frame
42″ pipe (4 qty) – Length
19″ pipe (4 qty) – Width
50″ pipe (5 qty) – Height
Doors
17.5″pipe (4 qty) – Width
46.5″ pipe (4 qty) – Height
Overall Weight
1 in, 4 ft PVC pipe = 1.4lbs
Overall Weight of Enclosure: ~37lbs
Author’s Note
From start to finish, conception to assembly, this took a total of 3 days of time. Not counting waiting for parts, choosing parts, etc. The idea started way back in 2022 when I was having issues with squirrels stealing my tomatoes. I dreamed up and drew up plans, even going as far as to buying much of the materials to do it (originally out of wood and composite wood). However, the squirrels quit stealing my stuff until this year when my vegetables and fruit disappeared one by one. The final straw was the baby cantaloupe! WARTIME. Since it would be placed on the deck instead of the ground like the original plans intended, I needed a less weighty option and therefore chose PVC pipe. Armed with the original plans, I altered them. You can plan all you’d like, but doing is completely different! So started the 3 day-total-time journey (really, it took about a week waiting for all the pieces). Many, many calculations, miscalculations, frustrations, and even blood shedding later, I’ve – at this writing – mostly completed the project. Just a few minor tweaks and a test run before finalizing the hardware.
Overarching Question: Does it actually work???
As of August 2025: YES, IT WORKS successfully against thieving squirrels! They tried, hard with no success! (see Notes section for more)
Process
Gathering Supplies and Equipment
Needed: Handles, PVC pipe, Ratcheting pipe cutter, PVC fittings, hinges
Calculating, Measuring, Cutting, Assembling the Frame
Easily the most time-consuming part. Using the specialized PVC cutter and also a digital caliper saved a lot of time. Just setting up the frame is easy. The hard part is fitting the doors properly without creating too much of a gap (trying to prevent critter entry after all) around the door and frame while remembering that the fittings add more length to each side (calculations are done for you already in the schematics above). On top of that, there’s the consideration of hardware cloth size to make as the hardware cloth is best wrapping around the pipe. If this was wood, it would be easier to just create a removable frame around the outside of the cloth. Lots of re-measuring and re-cutting until I got it right (or close enough).
Use a rubber mallet to make sure the pieces are snug in the fittings
Hinges and Handles
This was more complicated than it needed to be. Hardware included with the (unthreaded) cheapo Handles are just too short to span the 1 in width of the PVC pipe. Without buying more or having to run out to a store, I delved into my giant box of random screws. Thankfully, I managed to find 4 that were both long enough and the right size (screw and thread gauges are useful). The Hinges snapped easily onto the PVC and mostly stay in place. And no wonder they stay in, because it gouges the plastic like no other if you remove and slide them around, so make sure you’ve measured where you want them first.
WARNING: Fasten any hinges before fastening handles so that the handles are oriented properly, or at least mark locations well. Because I waited a year, my handles are now in a wonky orientation
May 2025 – Hinge Permanence
Finally decided to screw in the hinges. I was way too lazy to take the entire cabinet apart for the winter, but it ended up enduring the winter just fine
Used an 11/64″ bit, lined up the hinges on the pipe, and went for it. Ended up using random screws that I happened to have, so they’re all mismatched and ended up rusting over the summer
Attaching the Hardware Cloth
This is 16-gauge hardware cloth which is hard to find in stores (at least where I am). It’s big enough to allow pollinators, water, and air into the enclosure, but small enough to thwart rodent and avian robbers. This was the limiting factor for size of the enclosure as the cloth I used was only 2ft wide (they sell them larger). And no, chicken wire is not recommended. Not only are the holes too large, but the wire is weak. Also, to note, because this enclosure sits on the deck, there is no need for bottom coverage. If I were to use the wooden schematics made to sit on the ground, then it would be fully enclosed by wood, or extra cloth would need to be sunk into the ground (1-2 ft deep) to deter diggers.
The exceedingly time-consuming and physically painful part of this was the issue of how to attach hardware cloth to PVC. Without spending a fortune, I decided on a roll of general-purpose galvanized steel wire and some pliers. However, given how long it took to secure everything (5 hours! In the baking sun and even through a short downpour), I’ve been thinking of a better attachment method (See NOTES section)
Twisting the Galvanized Steel Wire with Pliers
After much trial and error, I found that this was the fastest way (at least by hand) to tie off the 16-gauge steel wire (perhaps I should have used something smaller)
Fun fact: If you feel the metal after twisting, it’ll feel really hot
Keep Going Until Completion
What’s annoying is that tying off the hardware cloth with wire will cause random pockets where it bows out. Just keep on until everything is secure. Be aware that the ends of the hardware cloth and the steel wire are very sharp!
Complete!
Mostly. No locking hardware yet. Coming back to this 2 years after the fact, I’m still holding strong with just a ball bungee through the 2 handles.
Winter Cover
The aim was to have it deconstructable, but I was too lazy, so I decided to use it as sort of a winterized greenhouseish thing. My region is Zone 7B USDA hardiness. Two options (so far) for winterization.
Plastic Sheeting
Suitable for mild winters with low duration freezing periods, about 20-40F.
Material
6 mil Greenhouse Plastic Sheeting 12′ x 25′ (much too large)
Zip Ties
Packing Tape (for corners)
Pictures!
Plastic Sheeting Winterizing Results
2 months: hard freeze early December for 1-2 weeks, and it’s dipped as low as the teens. So far so good. The plants seem to be doing just fine in there. I have hard neck garlic, strawberry, my blueberry plant, and onions.
Post-Winter: For about 5ish years, the winter had been pretty mild. 2024-2025 winter was normal for this area which translates to periods of very cold and snow. Unfortunately, that meant that my plastic layers did NOT work well enough. If temperatures stay around 20-40F, then the plastic is fine. If there are hard freezes for extended periods of time, this is not good enough. All of my plants died except the strawberry which didn’t mind at all and looks amazing (in a 10-gallon fabric pot). The blueberry mostly died but finally started sprouting new shoots from the root late June 2025. I was disappointed and will update again this fall when I set up the new version of this using hard plastic walls instead of the sheeting. Stay tuned!
Twin-Wall Polycarbonate Sheet
4′ x 2′ x 0.24” Polycarbonate Green House Panels. They’re a rigid plastic sheeting that are shatterproof which supposedly allows them to withstand severe weather, and keeps the greenhouse both warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The working temperature range is: -42°F to 248°F (-44°C to 120°C)
Stay-tuned! I will attempt to attach this to the structure and report when I’m successful!
Notes
9/2025 – Added a snap-on door stop made with a 3D printer to prevent the doors from swinging too hard inward. Easy to drill and permanently attach to PVC pipe if desired. Throughout the growing season, had plants inside then enclosure that were able to be pollinated no problem. Doors made it easy to access plants. Ended up moving the corn plants inside after squirrel robbery. The enclosure was a tad too short for the corn, so tassels extended out, but successfully thwarted squirrels that tried hard to get into the corn (they obliterated the corn tassels trying to pull the entire plant out). Success!! Just bought the polycarbonate panels for a new attempt at creating a cold frame for the winter. Still have yet to attach actual door latches and am still using a ball
August 2024 – It’s been almost a month since test phase started, and squirrels have left it completely alone. No evidence of rotting, so good airflow, pollinators busily doing their thing, vines climbing the cloth like a trellis… altogether very happy with its function. Even the bungee cords perform well and are easy to remove. Still have not secured hinges or installed latches… and I’m not sure I want to. It would make for a refined product, but the bungee cords work well.
August 2025 – Squirrels robbed me of corn, so moved the pot into the enclosure. SUCCESS!!! First true test against the rodents. They desperately wanted the corn, but could not get in. They even tried to pull the corn up through the top by yanking on the tassels. All that did was rip the tassels off the plant. They never got inside! Yay!! It WORKS!!!
If I were to do it again, I would do several things:
- Buy hardware cloth that’s wide enough to not need so much overlap. Like, one that can span from one side, to the back, and to the other side. The top can be separate.
- If using the galvanized steel wire method of attachment, then buy a Wire Twister Tool for Drill. Not only would that save tons of time, but physical fatigue
- Measure the placement of the hinges before snapping them on
- Paint it green or brown. White is so stark in the garden! Or if you have expendable income, then buy Formufit’s colored PVC
- Figure out a different way to attach the hardware cloth (Ideas are all expensive yet removeable: 2in Rubber Cable Clamps, 2 in Binder Rings, 6in Steel Wire Twist Barrel Keychains, etc.)
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