How to build a fenced garden area with Vego garden beds
- Balanced Seasons
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
I love gardening and often tell people I don't really know what I'm doing, I just love playing in the dirt. I remember my first garden. It was in a tiny box planter off the patio in my townhouse. I grew my own spinach, strawberries, and green beans. I was hooked ever since.
Fast forward 20 years and I've upgraded over the years. In fact, for the last 8 years I managed 5 garden beds in my suburban Alexandria home in Virginia.
Here I have 3 of the 17" 9 in1 modular Vego beds, 1 42" round Vego bed to the right and one square bed in the corner that was off Amazon.
So when we moved and I was given the opportunity to start fresh, I decided to upgrade to 8 Vego garden beds within a fenced garden space.
Why Vego garden beds? No particular reason. I came across this brand several years ago and have now purchased a total of12 Vego beds, a pack of solar lights, and two in-bed composters and everything has held up well. I like the raised bed option because it keeps my dogs out, but you can choose any garden bed for this design - I just like the Vego beds, so I'm using them for this design and measurements.
The garden area is 30 x 23, so this is essentially the layout and measurements. All posts will be 8 feet part except for the gate area located on both sides, that will be 7 feet apart.
Here is a list of materials and tools we used.
Materials to Build a Fenced Garden
14 - 4 x 4 x 8's
14 bags of concrete
30 - 8 foot long 2x4’s
42 - 1 x 4 x 8’s
28 - 1 x 6 x 8's (for the header)
1/2" 19 gauge galvanized steel wire 100 feet long (can go 3 feet wide or 4 feet)
1/2" 19 gauge galvanized steel wire 50 feet long and 4 foot wide (for gate doors)
2 - Gate Latches
2-3/8" exterior galvanized framing nails (these are for securing the 1 x 4's)
3" exterior galvanized framing nails (these are for securing the gate 2 x 4's together)
8d 1 1/2" hot dipped galvanized connector nail (these are for the simpson strong-ties
Spray paint
*all wood is severe weather pressure treated
You can do anything if you have the right tools for the job.
Tools to Build a Fenced Garden
Basic tools - hammer, level, measuring tape, pencil, and drill.
Mini impact nailer or palm nailer (for pounding nails into the simpson strong-ties)
Wire cutter
Staple gun with staples (we used the hand staple gun and the staple gun with the air compressor)
Post digger
*links are for items we own/bought for the job
Vego Garden Beds (optional)
You can choose any garden beds you'd like, but here is what I have in the garden
2 - Arched Trellis System's 2.5" x 9.5" with a 7 foot trellis (this will give you 4 beds)
I also have two in-bed compost bins
I also have 4 solar lights on the main beds in the middle of the garden
I also have the Vego Garden tool box
I used the Vego 3D Garden Planner to design the space.
Solar Lights (optional)
I have these solar lights strung across the garden
Let's Go
Ok, now that you have the supplies and tools to build a fenced garden space let's get started.
1) Measure and set posts. Start by mapping out the area with stakes, string, or spray paint. Dig holes 2 feet down. Place post in and fill with concrete. Let set in place before moving on. (we had our landscapers do this part)
2) Install bottom 2 x 4's, using the level to keep the height the same (this may mean you are removing dirt or adding dirt depending on how flat and level the ground is). Skip the gate area.
3) Install top 2 x 4's depending on your hardwire width. We went with 3 feet but you could do 4 or higher). Again - use the leve to ensure the top boards are even and level all the way around. Skip the gate area.
4) Install the wire cloth. This stuff was not fun to deal with. I tried to keep it as one long roll but it is heavy and hard to work with so I ended up cutting it so I could secure it properly. We used fence staple on the 4 x 4 posts and used the staple gun for securing it to the 2 x 4's.
5) Install the 1 x 4's to cover the hard wire on the 2 x 4's. This gives it a nice finished look.
6) Add the 1 x 6 headers to the top
7) Build the gate. We used a gate height of 57.5” and a gate width of 38.25” - this allowed for the two cuts from 1 2x4. For the cross bar, we didn't measure, we laid it on the gate frame and drew the line of where to cut it. For the frame, we used wood glue and 3" nails. This is when we purchased the Rigid Miter Saw, realizing we needed a saw that could cut past 45 degrees.
8) Install the wire mesh to the gate and add your gate hardware.
9) Add ground cover for beds (we used wood chips) and add your vego beds.
Over the last 5 months I've been documenting our landscaping project - here is the garden update video.
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