At long last, a garden fence

The posts for the garden fence were set April 17, so it only took me four months to finish it. But it's a humdinger of a fence if I do say so. I'm not sure how much detail you can pick up from the photo, so I'll describe it.

The top stringer of barbed wire is 8 feet high. The next strand is 6 feet. The wooden stringers start at 4 feet and are covered with 48-inch chicken wire. Three strands of barbed wire between the stringers complete the fence.

When there are vegetables growing in the spring and summer, I'll afix about 20 aluminum pie plates on the top strand of barbed wire between the posts. This should discourage deer from trying to jump the fence. The only wild creatures I'm worried about are raccoons. They can easily climb the chicken wire and wreak havoc. We'll see.

I hope to get my fall garden planted by the weekend -- collards, turnips, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, kale, garlic, lettuce. Want to bet it stops raining the minute I plant something?

Finally, some fence progress

The posts have been in the ground for almost two months, but I'm just not getting around to adding the stringers on the fence for the vegetable garden. I still have to build a tractor gate in back and add chicken wire and deer fencing around the top, but the 32' X 40' enclosure is coming along nicely.

The fence follows the contour of the land which is no easy feat. You measure and measure and then you end up eyeballing it.

Procrastination does have its advantages. The price of the 1" X 6" X 8' stringers two months ago was $2.89. This week the price had dropped to $2.27.

Easy as 1-2-3 and 4-5-6 and 7-8-9 and . . .

The 21 post holes for the garden fence were dug. The posts were in their holes. All I had to do was align the posts, pour the concrete and I'm done.

Well, eight hours later, I'm done.

Seemingly simple tasks get so complicated. First, the tractor auger does not dig to exact measurements. I had to fill and then dig out other holes to get them exactly 24 inches deep. Also, the auger makes a larger hole than hand digging. It takes more concrete. I ended up pouring 1,200 pounds on the 21 posts when I had planned on just 800.

Instead of using good lumber for supports while the concrete was drying, I used old 2 X 4s which were hard to work with.

What I thought would be an easy half-day job turned into an all-day marathon. But the posts are in and straight.

Now all I have to do is add the 72 1 X 6 X 8 stringers, attach 160 feet of chicken wire and build a gate. That won't take long, will it?