Raising Fence

My main task this weekend was to put up a fence around my vegetable garden. Earlier, I mentioned that I had purchased 100 ft of 2" x 4" wire mesh and 20 4' metal stakes from a local gardening center. Figuring that it wasn't enough, I went back last weekend and got an additional 50 ft of wire mesh. I also had a dozen or so extra stakes from the old garden, which ultimately came in handy.

Saturday morning, I started by marking off the perimeter of my vegetable plot with kitchen twine, leaving about a foot of tilled soil between the lawn and the future fence. I plan on mulching over this area later on this fall and utilizing the space to plant flowers all around the vegetable garden. This should also making mowing and weeding along the fence a lot easier. Next, I dug about 4 inches down along the perimeter of the plot, removing more rocks and roots in the process. I'm hoping that by burying the fence a bit, it will act as an added deterrent against woodchucks and rabbits. This took me a couple of hours and was exhausting work in 90 degree weather.

Later on in the day and after the sweltering sun had eased a bit, I pushed the metal stakes about a foot deep into the trench (spacing them anywhere between 4 to 6 feet apart) and used a trowel to even out the depth and remove any rocks that might obstruct the wire mesh. After all of the stakes were put up, I uncoiled the wire and attached it to each stake at three different points using plastic electrical ties. I will point out that getting the wire up straight and taut was not that easy, especially if the stake was not pushed in perfectly straight, if there was a slight slope to the land, or if I had to make a turn. This entire process took about 3 hours and I was pretty satisfied with the finished result. At the end of the day, my only remaining tasks are to back fill the trench and build a garden door, things I hope to get done sometime this week.