A fence is a great way to protect your plants from pests, add more privacy to a garden, or shelter children or pets from outdoor hazards.
Fencing a garden is a great home improvement project, and doing it yourself can save money.
Building your own garden fence isn’t very difficult or expensive. Here are step-by-step instructions on how to fence your garden.
How to Build a Fence Around Your Garden
To Fence a Garden, Follow These Steps
- Measure your fenced-in area. Make sure you allow yourself space to easily access and move around your garden. If your fence will have a gate, allow space for gate clearance and movement.
- Measuring the total size of your fenced-in area determines how many materials you will need to buy.
- Determine the spacing of your fence posts. You will need to place posts at every corner and on either side of your gate. For the long areas of your fence, determine how far apart your fence posts will be. Typical fences have posts every 6-8 feet, but you may want fence posts closer together if the fence needs to be strong enough to contain strong animals or withstand high winds.
- Dig holes for your fence posts. As a rule, one-third of your fence posts need to be buried beneath the ground. For example, a six-foot fence post should be buried two feet deep, giving you a four-foot-high fence. You can dig the holes with a shovel, but using a post-hole digging tool helps to dig your holes straight down.
- Add gravel to the bottom of your post holes. Gravel will help improve water drainage, making your fence posts last longer.
- Place your posts into the holes and backfill. You can use loose soil to backfill your post holes, but make sure the soil is well-compacted to help your fence be straight and stable. You may also use cement to fill your post holes, which provides much more security and stability, but you will need to build a support that will hold your fence posts upright while the cement cures.
- Add fencing material between the posts, leaving free space for your gate.
The next step depends on what kind of fence you are building. Here are some examples:
- For a wood fence, add upper and lower boards between each of your fence posts. These boards create the structure that you will attach your fence boards to
- For a wire, mesh, or net fence, you may simply unroll the wire and attach it to the fence posts with staples
- You may need to add horizontal support rails for a fence made of lattice panels, bamboo, or grass. The amount of support required depends on the kind of fence you have and how sturdy you need the finished fence.
Build Your Gate
During the planning and construction, you will have added two fence posts about three feet apart and then left them free of fencing to create a gate in that space.
The easiest way to build a gate is to make a separate panel of your fencing material, independent of the fence, designed to fit into the gap between the posts.
Create top and bottom rails, attach boards to them, or build a framework for your wire mesh or lattice.
Hang Your Gate
A gate is typically attached with hinges on one side and held closed with a hook or latch on the other side. Using a level to make sure that you are hanging your gate evenly will help the hinges move correctly and last longer.
Choose heavy-duty, weatherproof hardware when hanging your fence so that it withstands harsh weather and continues to move freely over time.
Conclusion
Fencing a garden is not a complicated project, but it can take a lot of hard work, depending on how big, high, or strong you need your fence to be. Fences come in all kinds of sizes, materials, and styles, so you can choose the perfect fence to match your garden and your lifestyle.
Fencing a garden is a good family project because involving more people makes each step faster and easier.
A garden fence makes your lawn or garden safer and more private while also making it more attractive and potentially increasing your home’s value.
It also allows you to customize your fence and get precisely what you need at a more affordable price.
