There are a number of people who like following my projects, from restoring antique furniture to recently rebuilding farm equipment to home restorations. This photo/video focuses on the start-to-finish build of a 50ft x 50ft garden complex. The project itself was initiated on June 6th and finished on November 3rd, when temperatures dropped to the 30s the next day. It will eventually include a gravity tower for rainwater runoff to supply drip irrigation, chicken run integration, and other attributes as time allows implementation.
The garden itself consists of 11 full loads for top soils to fill in a low spot East of the pole barn. A large dump truck can carry roughly 28,000 pounds or about 14 tons, therefore 154 tons of dark rich topsoil, 3 feet deep in places. The erosion embankments are already seeded with 12lbs of Scotts Turf Builder Mixed, which will root and stabilize the soil in 2003 thanks to the tall fescue in the mix.
The fence build consists of AC2 ground contact pressure treated lumber, with frames dado cut 5/8 for positioning 30 panels of galvanized 4 gauge Oklahoma steel stockade cattle panels. There is a drawing in the video that briefly reviews all the specifications and content required, which I manually created in Adobe Illustrator CS10. Feel free to ask for a PDF if you are interested in the plans 🙂
The fence used 10′ poles on the high sides, with 7 feet above the ground. The actual height was 10′ in height on the embankment sides, more than sufficient to stop a buck from jumping. The lower panels include 1/2′ square mesh wire that will block rabbits that decimate foliage during the growing season. More deterrents will be added to discourage raccoons as well. The post depth was 36 inches to prevent frost line heaving during the cold Indiana winters.
I used our John Deere 4400 mounted with a 420 loader and a 3-point Speeco Post Hole Digger with 9″ and 12″ augers. The woods working tools included a DeWalt 12-in Dual-Bevel Compound Miter Saw and a 10-in Carbide-tipped Blade 15-Amp Jobsite Table Saw with Dado stack, both of which were essential. It was a brutal project, exhausting but exhilarating too.