Garden Fence Installation

A garden fence solves a completely different problem than livestock or perimeter fencing: it's not about containing something large and heavy, it's about excluding smaller, persistent, and often airborne or climbing animals from a vegetable garden, orchard, or raised-bed area. That changes almost everything about how it's built — height, mesh size, and even whether the fence needs to be buried at the bottom all come down to what specific animal is actually causing the damage, which is worth identifying before assuming a standard height and material will solve the problem.

Deer are the main design driver

Deer are the single biggest reason most garden fences in this area get built taller and sturdier than a homeowner initially expects. A deer can clear a fence that looks plenty tall from the ground — general guidance for a reliable deer-exclusion fence starts around 7 to 8 feet, since deer judge a jump partly by depth as well as height, and a fence that's tall but narrow (not backed by dense planting or a second barrier) can still get cleared by a determined deer that misjudges the space on the far side. For a garden where deer pressure is heavy, height is the first thing worth getting right rather than the first thing to cut for budget.

Smaller animals need a different approach

Rabbits, groundhogs, and similar smaller animals don't jump a fence, they go under or through it — which means a fence built only to stop deer can still lose an entire bed to rabbits if the mesh at the bottom is too wide or the fence isn't secured tight to the ground. A smaller-mesh wire section at the base, sometimes buried a few inches or bent outward along the ground (an "L-footer") to discourage digging, addresses this without needing to build the entire fence height at tight mesh spacing, which would cost considerably more than necessary.

Materials

Welded wire mesh on metal T-posts or wood posts is the most common garden fence build — effective, relatively inexpensive per foot, and easy to add a gate to for equipment or wheelbarrow access. For a garden that's also meant to look intentional as part of the broader landscaping (near a house rather than out in a back pasture), a wood-framed fence with wire infill gives a more finished look while still doing the exclusion job. We'll talk through both options and the trade-off between cost and appearance during a free estimate.

Gates

Every garden fence needs at least one gate sized for whatever equipment regularly needs to get in and out — a wheelbarrow, a small tiller, or just comfortable foot traffic with tools in hand. It's worth deciding on gate width and location before the rest of the fence goes in, since retrofitting a wider opening later means rebuilding a section rather than just adding a gate to an already-finished run.

Bird and pest considerations beyond fencing

A garden fence solves the ground-level and jumping-animal problem, but it doesn't address birds or flying insects — if that's also a concern, netting over specific beds is a separate addition rather than something the perimeter fence itself can solve. We focus on the fence itself during a free estimate, but it's worth mentioning if birds have been a specific problem so the overall plan accounts for it rather than treating the fence as a complete solution to every garden pest.

Sizing the project to the actual garden

A small raised-bed garden and a larger fenced orchard or food-plot area call for genuinely different approaches — a small area can justify a higher per-foot cost for a nicer, wood-framed look, while a larger area usually needs the more economical welded-wire approach simply due to the total footage involved. We'll walk through the real trade-off for the specific size and goal of a property's garden during a free estimate rather than applying one standard approach regardless of scale.

Frequently asked questions

How tall does a deer-proof garden fence need to be?

General guidance is 7 to 8 feet for a fence meant to reliably stop deer, since they judge a jump by depth as well as height and can clear a fence that looks tall enough from ground level.

Will a tall fence alone stop rabbits and other small animals?

No — smaller animals typically go under or through a fence rather than over it, so a garden fence built only for deer height often still needs a tighter-mesh section or buried footer at the base to actually stop rabbits and similar animals.

Can a garden fence be built to also look good as part of the yard?

Yes — a wood-framed fence with wire infill is a common way to get a finished, intentional look near the house while still doing the exclusion work of a wire garden fence.