Garden fence build

[drumminj]

I should also say that I'm just the helper. I do the building, lifting, the carrying and the stacking. I don't get involved in anything actually involved in cooking or creating food.

That pretty much describes our division of labor as well

I used to garden before she and I met, but she went and took the Master Gardener class so I let her manage that now. And she's the better cook, so I mostly just do the grilling.

 

[EddieWalker]

That Master Gardner thing just made thing worse with my wife. Once she finished it, she volunteered to work at the County Greenhouse. I didn't even know that the County had a Greenhouse!!! It turns out that the County, along with the cities in the County, all swap out their plants throughout the year, and the old plants are usually thrown away. Guess who has brought home hundreds of free plants?

Here is a picture of a cinder block raised garden bed that's similar to what I'm planning on doing. But I'm going to do the bottom two rows in 8x8x16 inch blocks like in the picture, but then do another row or two of 4x8x16 inch blocks to give a little more planting area. I'm also going to fill the blocks with concrete to lock them together.

 

[ljgordon]

As we close in on the end of the growing season, it's time to build a permanent garden solution vs the t-posts and chicken wire we used this year while evaluating the site location. Looking for any feedback from folks on ways to improve or mistakes I may be making...

Looking to build a fence around our garden area similar to shown in the photos here:

View attachment 1264224 View attachment 1264225

I've worked up my own plans based on the photos, but haven't build anything like this before so may be making some bad assumptions. Here's what I'm planning:

• Fenced area will be 35ft x 35ft (approx)
• Posts: 6x6 corners and either side of the door; 4x4 elsewhere, all buried 3' deep. Will fill bottom of hole with 3-4" of gravel and then use 2 50lb bags of quickrete to set the posts. Will backfill the rest with our clay dirt here in TN.
• All ground-contact rated pressure treated lumber (YellaWood SYP).
• Will use 5' tall 6 gauge livestock panels with 4x4 openings.
• 64" span between posts, so each panel will be 60"x64" and weigh 16 pounds.
• 2x4 top and bottom rails holding the panels, which will be toe-nailed into the posts (will use a framing nailer for the build)
• Will rip 2x4s in half for the trim pieces which hold the panels in place
• Rather than have the fence open at the bottom, I'll make a panel with 1/2" hardware cloth for the bottom 12" or so, again trimmed/framed with ripped 2x4s on three sides and buried in the ground on the bottom to protect against burrowing creatures.
• Will run 2x6s around both inside and outside of posts around the top to help with overall stability and resisting any twisting of the posts. Will face-nail to the 6x6 posts on the outside and toe-nail into the side of the 6x6s on the inside of the fence.
• Total height will be 8-9' above ground

I feel pretty good about the plan overall, but have a couple of concerns:

• Never used a framing nailer before. Gotta practice to make sure I can keep the top and bottom rails in place when I toe nail them
• Bottom 2x4 rails supporting the weight of the panel. Online calculators tell me deflection shouldn't be an issue over a 64" span with evenly distributed weight, but experience tells me a 2x4 run horizontally like that is going to sag over time. I'm hoping/expecting that the 2x "trim" pieces will help add rigidity to the span and help resist any sagging, but these obviously will be mechanically fastened together rather than being a true 3" thick piece of lumber (does that matter?)
• Will the connection points of the bottom rail to the posts be strong enough?
• Are the 2x6s at the top of the fence too big a sail such that they'll to much force on the structure in high winds? At the least they will make it a little top-heavy. I"m wondering if 2x6s would be better, even though they'd be less rigid

Would love to hear any thoughts/feedback folks might have. I've been pricing out materials the past few days and it looks like it'll come in right around $2500. Yikes!

And after this I have to put together the Costco greenhouse we have on order...

Have you thought about building a 4 strand electric fence. Probably much cheaper.

 

[drumminj]

Have you thought about building a 4 strand electric fence. Probably much cheaper.

Sure, much cheaper but not as nice to look out at, and doesn't meet the WAF threshold. Hopefully you realize the fence is already built at this point

 

[drumminj]

That Master Gardner thing just made thing worse with my wife. Once she finished it, she volunteered to work at the County Greenhouse. I didn't even know that the County had a Greenhouse!!! It turns out that the County, along with the cities in the County, all swap out their plants throughout the year, and the old plants are usually thrown away. Guess who has brought home hundreds of free plants?

Here is a picture of a cinder block raised garden bed that's similar to what I'm planning on doing. But I'm going to do the bottom two rows in 8x8x16 inch blocks like in the picture, but then do another row or two of 4x8x16 inch blocks to give a little more planting area. I'm also going to fill the blocks with concrete to lock them together.

View attachment 2745489

That's a serious garden bed if you're using cinder blocks as the edging! Instead of filling them with concrete, my SO says you can fill with dirt and then put companion plants (like chives and marigolds) in those squares.

And at least your plants were free . We instead buy plants at their annual plant sale that we don't really need!

 

[EddieWalker]

My crazy wife just received 10 pounds of marigold seeds in the mail yesterday!!!!! I think she has twice that in zinnia seeds. It was 13 degrees this morning and she has way too much time to surf the internet and buy seeds.

 

[drumminj]

Our lives are eerily similar in this regard .

Every week I hear about seed sales/more seeds bought.

 

[j13smiley]

My crazy wife just received 10 pounds of marigold seeds in the mail yesterday!!!!! I think she has twice that in zinnia seeds. It was 13 degrees this morning and she has way too much time to surf the internet and buy seeds.

My wife harvests those seeds every fall and uses them to replant in the spring.

 

[EddieWalker]

She does that with some of her plants, but last year she discovered ETSY. That's been worse than Amazon or Chewy for online shopping!!!!! Now she can buy them by the pound or get a dozen of something that nobody has ever heard of before.

Even worse, they send more then she pays for and even add seeds that she didn't order. For her, those surprise seeds are better than Christmas!!!!! I get to hear everything about them.

 

[drumminj]

Finished cutting up the cedar today. Continuing the theme of underestimating the amount of effort involved - man that was a lot of cuts with the chop saw!

Assembly starts tomorrow hopefully. The weather is great here right now -- warmed up with highs in the 60s this week. Time to execute on all the outdoor projects!

 

[gsganzer]

That's some good-looking cedar with lots of heart wood. It should last a very long time.

 

[drumminj]

Finally finished building the last of the planters after taking a break to paint the garden fence (you can see it far in the background), and recovering from a wrist injury.

Now I just need to wait for help to get them moved to their final resting place - ground's too wet at the moment to move them with the tractor.

 

[drumminj]

Hopefully this is the last thing built for the garden for a while. Using up the last of the scrap cedar I have laying around, made a potting bench (that's three benches/tables made now for the garden out of cedar - one in greenhouse, one will be out amongst the planter beds, and now this) for the missus.



Most of this 'scrap' is leftover cedar from our house build. The builder clearly brought in too much cedar for our screened porch. The 1x6s are rough-sawn lumber I got the same time as the material for the raised beds.

I might have enough laying around to make a little stool as well. Need to see if I have four 4x4s for legs..might just have three.

Fun to get to use all the tools laying around. Today used the miter saw, table saw, planer, jig saw, orbital sander, and router.

 

[EddieWalker]

When do you start planting there? My wife will have all our beds full this week, and now she wants me to get some cattle panels for trellises

 

[drumminj]

I'll be getting some cattle panels for trellises this week, ironically enough! We're going to run them from one 3'x3' planter to another.

We've started planting this week -- have some onions and peas in the beds already. Largely we're limited by the state of the beds. I need to get them all moved in there and laid out properly before I can start filling them with dirt (we have a plan on paper but I know the fence is a bit off of square so need to adjust to reality). Rained again last night so I'm still reliant on someone to help me move the remaining three planters.

A lot of what goes in will be transplants that were started over a month ago in plastic storage containers left outside. I can't keep track of all that she's planted out there, but its a lot.

 

[EddieWalker]

At first she wanted me to make a hoop with the cattle panels that go from one bed to the other. But now she wants them the run the length of the bed and be at 45 degrees. I'll use some old T Posts to hold them up and rest the other side in the dirt.

 

[drumminj]

At first she wanted me to make a hoop with the cattle panels that go from one bed to the other. But now she wants them the run the length of the bed and be at 45 degrees. I'll use some old T Posts to hold them up and rest the other side in the dirt.

Huh. So if your bed is 8'x3', the panels will be 8' long? I'd be curious to see pictures if and when you get those in. Last year we just ran 2"x4" welded wire fence along the bed, attached to t-posts. Worked okay but not the best solution.

This year it will be hoops like you describe. Assuming I can make time to go get the panels and cut the rebar to keep the ends in place (dirt probably is heavy/strong enough to hold it, but figure 12" rebar would be better).

 

[EddieWalker]

My beds are 4 feet wide and 16 feet long. This is a picture that I found online that shows what she wants me to do. Except I'm going to put the T Posts in straight and tie the panel to the T Post



Here is a quick video of our garden that I took over the weekend with my drone.

 

[drumminj]

Thanks for sharing the video - that's a HUGE garden! How wide are the aisles? We've planned 36" for ours, though I can already tell it'd be nice to have it be a bit wider for navigating the gorilla cart.

 

[BackRoad]

Oh man Mr. Eddie!

Am I ever thankful my wife does not access the tractor forum! "...I want garden beds just like Mr. Eddie Walker...!"

Outstanding garden! Loved the drone shot as it lifted up away and the garden just kept getting bigger and bigger. Nice effect!

Think I counted maybe (24) beds, and they look like 24' x 6' (just from counting the strides by the lady walking along the bed).

Just spectacular!

It would be great to have a virtual tour. I love seeing people's gardens up close. They're a labor of love...