As much as I am embarrassed to admit, there are times when the outside of our house and our surrounding yard looks a little junky. What, with all of our projects that we’re working on, our back porch and driveway end up being our workshops and/or storage areas. There have been times when I’ve seen a neighbor drive by and cover their eyes, and the fallen down / caved in garden fence certainly didn’t help matters.
As I shared in this post, this past winter really did a number to our garden fence. Originally built as a make-due fence, we did end up getting three years out of it. And, in building this said fence, we did learn a few things:
- Always use pressure treated wood for the posts.
- Bring the netting out at least a foot from the fence and cover with mulch.
- Secure the fence posts in the ground with concrete.
- Make sure the garden door has a latch. Or two.
The original fence was built out of railroad ties (not pressure treated, so the bottoms did rot). We thought we needed a tall fence because we have such a huge deer population and they can jump. However, I think we gave the deer a little too much credit because I don’t think they can jump 7 feet without getting a huge running start. I could be wrong, but whatevs, we didn’t need such a high fence. And, truth be told, it wasn’t pretty. My theory, if I’m going to take the time to have a beautiful and prosperous garden, then the fence needs to be an attractive one too.
We settled on six foot posts, securing them a foot in the ground. We were able to use the original holes from the old fence, which totally helped out a lot. We live on mostly rock and digging holes is back breaking and tool breaking. Fingers crossed the deer don’t rent pogo sticks and jump over. And for the netting, well, we kept it at just that. No additional fencing. I wanted to keep the fence looking neat and tidy.
For a little added stability, we nailed weather treated boards to the posts. With the help of the fence posts making our fence look more fence-y, we also attached decorative post caps to each post, adding fab to the fence. For the garden doors, I found two cedar fence panels at the salvage shop for about $10, and when I saw them (and the price), I knew they would make for a perfect garden entrance.
A much needed project that was a little on the difficult side, but worth every sweaty shirt and sore muscle. Now, we’re in business. The garden is underway and growing. The A-frame cedar trellises were added to the cucumber patch for height, and to garner a more plentiful cucumber crop. Now all I need to do is keep it watered and nourished, and wait to reap the fruits of my labor.
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