Building a Garden Fence

Building or "creating" a fence for your garden can be relatively simple provided that you have some time, patience and a bit of strength.  The cost will depend on how simple or fancy a fence you make and how strong you need it to be.  It is also important to keep in mind the purpose of your garden fence.  The 10 or so deer in our yard about a week ago reminded us at how important it was to create a barrier for those who might make a meal out of our hard work.  So after the last few months of deliberating and because I was on spring break, we decided it was time to get going.

The garden before we began this project.  

Fortunately, we have a wooded area on our property where we can find fallen trees and limbs to use for our various projects.  This time, the fallen trees became our posts.  We decided to go with a 6 ft. high chicken wire as it was cheaper than the "horse fence" that I had originally set my mind on.  The posts reach a high 7 foot out of the ground, and we will be stringing some wire or string at the top to provide just a bit more protection (apparently deer don't see very well so they are psyched into thinking the wire stretches up that high).  Who knows if our efforts will actually work.  We have had many different reports with suggestions from peeing on your garden fence to claiming that the deer won't bother our garden at all.

Al used a hatchet to strip the wood of branches
and some of the bark.

We foraged our property for 17 relatively straight posts, most of which were cedar, the others pine and oak.  Each were stripped of bark and limbs and were set in foot-deep holes with Quickcrete.  We then cut a large panel of wire for each "side" of the fence to make handling it easier.  Attaching the wire to the post with U-shaped nails was "relatively" easy aside from dropping them or hammering them in crooked.  I can't see how this part would've been possible with one person so I was happy we were able to work on this project together - one holding the wire in place, one hammering the nails.

We took turns digging.  Post hole diggers
aren't the most effective in heavy clay soil.

A chunk of our beloved clay.  Should be a great growing
medium when we finally get some organic matter in there!

We measured out and cut the chicken wire
to make it easier to handle.

The original plan to use 2x4's for the gate was switched to using 1x4's.  The 2x4's were really heavy and I was worried they would pull on the gate posts too much.  For our purposes, I don't think it was necessary to have a heavy-duty gate.  We bought four 1x4x8's which were cut to make a gate that was around 7x4.  Braces were made by cutting the wood 8 inches long and sawing a 45 degree angle on each end to fit in each corner of the gate.  A cross bar was cut for the middle.  We also purchased 3 hinges and a hook for the gate's latch.  I have yet to actually attach the gate to the post.  This is a task that needs two people, both for physical support and probably emotional support, as I predict this step of our process will be easy.

The heavier posts for the entrance gate.
Not sure how I'm going to get the hinges
on there!

We've worked really hard for this fence and hopefully it will be worth it as far as the deer go.  For me though, there are few things that are more fulfilling than working hard on our house and land.  Throw in the sunshine and a pleasant temperature and I can't get enough.

Autumn is Upon Us!

Living in the country is something that I have daydreamed about for awhile but actually doing it was still very abstract until we bought our house.  It is only in the past few weeks that I have really absorbed what it means to be removed from city-life.  Friday "lazy" nights are now reduced to "oh, I can't be bothered to drive all that way for take-out", so we just eat at home, and because things "need doin" I am on the go pretty much every weekend now.  Although I spent a large part of my life in a city and loved it, I think at heart I'm actually a country girl.  I've been so relaxed each weekend, forgetting about the stresses of work and the annoyance of TV.  Today I actually sat on the front porch, admired the beautiful blue sky and drank lemonade.  We opened the windows and enjoyed fresh air.  Out here I am close enough to enjoy city-life when I want, but I'm also closer to nature and the calm that nature brings.

This weekend was particularly uplifting and productive as we had two neighbors contribute to Chez Reece.  One neighbor offered to mow some grass on his way up to check his mail.  Not twenty minutes later he was cruising down the road on his riding mower.  A couple of hours later the whole front yard had been mowed and trimmed up with the weedeater.  I helped by pulling up weeds and unwanted grass while Al re-planted some herbs that were wasting away in the used coffee cans.  Please note:  Chock-ful of Nuts is a great coffee, but the cans do not make good containers for gardening.  The metal rusts on the inside and out and will kill your plants.  Thank goodness sage and thyme are hearty herbs!  Whilst out in the yard two of our other neighbors stopped by and left us with an amazing flower arrangement.  This after they had already supplied us with a bag of fresh shitake mushrooms and a jar of honey at the Saturday market - all products from their farm.  We will definitely be writing more on these neighbors as they are a wonderful resource and just really great people!

Since the weather report is looking good for the next 8 days, we began the first step in staining the back deck.  We moved everything to the front porch or garage and began using the bleach-like cleaner. This Olympic cleaner was applied with a used mop, a great idea from Al, and went to work right away on our mildew-stained deck.  Mind, the sponge on the mop dissolved a bit but I don't think it'll make a difference.  In a couple of days we will be able to begin applying the actual stain.  We've chosen Olympic Maximum toner in "Cedar Naturaltone".  It looks a bit dark to me, but Al really likes it so we might be stuck with it.

This is a photo before cleaning.  The brush broom didn't work as planned but the tub was perfect for dipping the mop into.  It took the whole container of cleaning solution to clean our 140 square foot deck.

These Mache seeds are meant to be planted in September or October and will be ready to harvest in January through March.  As Mache is one of my favorite greens I'm really excited about these!  We need to get a cold frame built and ready to go soon - but I'll leave that for another post.

These two pots contain Blue Flax seeds.  Blue Flax is a perennial that grows mostly green the first season and then blooms beautiful purplish-blue flowers in the second and subsequent seasons.  I hope to get these little seeds going then transplant them to our yard in the spring.

This grow light set-up was given to my classroom for a project last spring.  The children each planted flower seeds and were able to watch them grow.  Since we aren't using it at school right now, I thought I'd bring it home and put it to work.  The set-up uses a wood frame for the base and four "slats" of cut moulding which are screwed into the base.  Four clamps hold two slats on the vertical slats which are connected to the base.  I used some old yarn to hold the lights in place and each light is plugged into a power strip which will make it easy to turn on and off.  It is also possible to raise and lower the lights as needed by adjusting the slats and clamps.  I am hopeful that we've done something right.  There is a lot of trial and error in gardening - what a boost it would be to have some successful plants on our first try!

All in all, it's been a wonderful weekend and I've enjoyed being outside.

And here's little Honza because he is so cute!