Garden Bed & Fence How-To

The garden beds and the fence are done and even though Troster says we worked as a team, he is the real MVP. I have to brag on him for a minute because he worked on this for many weekends (obviously, we had nowhere to go with the quarantine, but still) with no complaining. I did help hold the wood together, lay ground cloth and level the stone, but he did all the hard stuff. The how-to is all written out below. If you have any questions feel free to comment and I'll have him answer them.

We both love gardening and we are so happy that we finally have a space for it in our yard. If you've followed along in stories over the past year, you saw that we had some trees cut down for new pipes to be put in. Before, the entire back yard was very shady and now we have this big patch of full sun. The garden couldn't have come at a better time.

Garden Beds How-To:

Materials-

• 2x12 lumber 8 feet – x3 per bed

• https://www.homedepot.com/p/2-in-x-12-in-x-8-ft-2-Prime-or-Better-Ground-Contact-Pressure-Treated-Lumber-112851/206964340

• Brackets – x4 (or 8 small ones) 

• https://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson-Strong-Tie-Z-MAX-2-in-x-4-in-12-Gauge-Galvanized-Medium-L-Angle-ML24Z/202071147

• Screws -x32 an inch to inch and a half

Steps-

• Cut one of the 2x12s in half

• Put the halves on the ends, bed is 8x4

• Use brackets to screw them together, use brackets it saves lots of time

• Fill with dirt (ideally remove grass before)

Fence How-To:

Materials-

• Landscape Timbers

• https://www.homedepot.com/p/8-ft-Landscape-Timber-288731/301802514

• Metal fence (we got the 5ft tall kind)

• https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-5-ft-x-50-ft-14-Gauge-Galvanized-Steel-Welded-Wire-Garden-Fence-308303EB/205708553

• Big staples

• https://www.homedepot.com/p/Grip-Rite-3-4-in-Hot-Dip-Galvanized-Staples-1-lb-Pack-34HGPNS1/100148501?MERCH=REC-_-searchViewed-_-202892880;202710557;100021099;100095467;203757368;100375887;305821750;206210812;203767343;203724110;204269388;312028207;301960121;312460851;100128946;205319578;202719124;203741661;304054480;312028216;312028196;206485340;100073226;202585314;-_-100148501-_-N

• Post hole digger

• Cement (if your doing it right, we didn't)

Steps-

• Dig the holes, we did 2.5 feet deep. Use post hole digger

• Put in posts, to do it right put cement in bottom, we skipped that put dirt back in

• Unwind fence and use staples to attach. 2 person activity

Stone How-To:

Materials-

• Stone, we like medium slate chips

• Ground cloth 

• Depends on size of garden

• Landscape staples (different from above)

• https://www.homedepot.com/p/Southwest-Boulder-Stone-6-in-Heavy-Duty-Steel-Garden-Staples-for-Weed-Barrier-Landscape-Fabric-Irrigation-Lines-and-Sod-100-Pack-02-0168/312645120

Steps-

• Use staples to attach cloth to ground (really don’t skip, makes for much better result)

• Spread the stone

Gate How-To:

Materials-

• 2x4 for post

• Thin lumber

• Brackets (different from above)

• https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-2-1-2-in-Zinc-Plated-Flat-Corner-Brace-4-Pack-15295/202034147

• Big staples

• Long hinge 

Steps-

• The gate took the most thinking

• I did not realize landscape timbers do not have a good shape for attaching the hinge, so attached 2x4 to front. 

• Then create a rectangle the size you need using the thin lumber and brackets. Using these brackets you can secure over the fencing to save a step and hold down the corners. Have a cross piece run across in the middle. Try to keep as light as possible.

• Cover with the same wire fence.

• We still need to get a latch. Right now we are using spare pieces of wires to close.