DIY Garden Fence (for under $30)

As you may have seen from my previous Home & Garden post, we have started a vegetable garden at our new home. We are growing tons of fruits and vegetables including beans, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, peas, raspberries, blueberries, and even lemons! 

While we have been working hard on maintaining and tending to our garden, we were at risk of not being able to enjoy the fruits of our labour. We had noticed that something was coming into our garden, picking a piece of fruit, taking one bite out of it, and just leaving it to rot. Like I know you’re hungry, but at least eat the whole thing! 

After wondering what it could be for a few days, we caught the little culprits in the act one evening after work! It turns out that a family of pesky squirrels had been getting into our garden and wreaking havoc on our fruits and veggies! Knowing that we had to stop these little critters from getting in, we built a garden fence to border our raised garden beds. 

After two weeks, I am happy to say that it has worked to prevent them from eating our fruits and vegetables as they grow. Due to our success, I wanted to share our process of building this chic and simple fence for those of you who may be struggling with the same issue. Not only does this fence look awesome, it also costs under $30 to make and can be re-used again every year!

Building Materials & Tools

You will need the following materials and tools to build your fence:

• 12, 1x1x72 inch wood stakes (1 inch x 1 inch x 6 feet) (something similar here)
• 1 roll plastic grid garden netting (at least 4-5 feet in height) (link here) 
• Measuring tape
• Staple gun and staples
• Scissors
• Hammer
• Work gloves 

Step 1: Plan

Look at your garden bed and decide where you want your fence to go. We have a raised garden bed that is in a L-shape, and we only wanted part of the garden bed to be fenced in. 

If your garden bed is large, consider building your fence in sections. This will allow you to access certain sections of the garden at a time. I also found that by building it in smaller 5-6 foot sections, the fence stayed more taut and made it easy to access areas of the garden. 

Step 2: Measure

Use your measuring tape to measure the perimeter of your garden bed. If you are building your fence in sections, measure the length of each section. Always double check your measurements before proceeding to the next step!

Step 3: Cut the Garden Netting

Use scissors to cut strips of garden netting according to your measurements to your measurements. Work with the grid lines to keep everything squared off and uniform. This will help when you staple it.

Step 4: Staple

Line up one end of the garden netting onto a wood stake. Make sure the net goes all the way to the top of one end of the stake, but leave the netting about 10-12 inches from the bottom end of the stake so you can place the stakes in the ground. Use a staple gun to staple the netting every 6 inches or so onto the wood stake. Hammer in any staples that did not go fully into the wood. 

Step 5: Repeat

Repeat this process by stapling the garden netting to the second stake, making sure to keep the top and bottom the same. 

Step 6: Place in the Ground

Take each section of the net and line it up where you would like it in the garden bed. Push the stake into the ground so that the bottom of the netting is flush with the ground. This way, no critters can get in! If you are having trouble, use a hammer to push the stake fully into the ground.

You’re Done!

And that’s it! Once you add all of the sections together you will have your own homemade garden fence that will keep critters out and all your tasty food in! 

When you need to access the garden, simply remove one of the stakes and open the netting so you can access your plants. Once you are done, just simply put the stake back in the ground. 

I hope this DIY will help anyone who is suffering the wrath of squirrels, bunnies, or even deer!

Let me know in the comments below if you have critters eating your garden and how you dealt with it! I would love to know!