Building a Garden Fence, Part I

As the weather warms day by day, I am persistently reminded by the voice in my head that I must complete the vegetable garden construction soon. Kale, onion, and shallot plants now need a permanent home. I have visions of rabbits and deer munching on the lettuce that is beginning to sprout. The day job is now getting in the way of my plans. I don't have enough energy at the end of a school day to build planter beds or haul rock. Instead, work is mostly consigned to weekends, and as so many of us know, weekends simply aren't long enough. We continue on, though, weary but undaunted.

Turfman and I spent Saturday digging post holes for the fence. We had 24 to measure, mark, and dig. We were told in no uncertain terms by the woman working in Home Depot's tool rental department that I could not serve as the second person on a two-person auger. She rather sternly looked me up and down and said, "You'll get tossed around. You're too little. No way." So we rented the one-person auger, and Turfman gave his shoulders a monumental workout. We also gave ourselves an additional challenge: we had rented the auger for four hours, and the drive to Home Depot is 20 minutes one-way. We essentially started with 40 minutes less. At one point, we despaired of ever getting done.

Lest anyone think I just stood around watching, I did try to pull my own weight. I hauled the 4"x4"x8' posts from the truck to the garden. I lugged bags of cement. We decided it was best to set all of the corner posts so that we could run twine between them to mark where the other holes should be placed. Then we decided that we should set all of the doorway posts, too. In the end, I carried each post to its hole and checked it for level. Miraculously, we dug the 24 holes, set 10 posts, and returned the auger within the time limit. We were tired. Turfman's shoulders were aching, and I had a sunburn. But we made real progress. We set four more posts tonight. That leaves 10 left to set. Then comes the work of attaching the framing boards and the wire fencing.

It's starting to look like a garden

I've had the vision of this space in my head and on paper for some time now, but as we completed each planter bed and placed it, the garden looked less and less intentional. At times, it seemed a potential disappointment. It's surprising how the view has changed after this weekend. The posts now mark the boundaries and indicate where doors will be hung, and now the space feels right. I'm really excited to see the finished product.

Getting the gravel paths laid

Hopefully, everything will be in place and the garden complete by 17 April, which is our average last frost date. Then I can confidently plant the rest of the beds and begin tending my dream garden.