Demarcation

I spent most of the weekend constructing a fence along the south side of the garden area. 

Over the last few years I have struggled with how to proceed. I always wanted to use plantings to demarcate the end of the garden and the beginning of the back yard. However, the grasses, including the clumping bamboo, never fully created a "fence line." I also didn't want to extend the existing fence style in this direction - towards the house and dinning room window.

More recently I considered a Yotsume-Gaki style fence. 

The idea of using bamboo seemed authentic and the open style appealed to me. I want to demarcate the garden, not seal it off from view. However, there was no local access to bamboo and shipping it was cost prohibitive. I always considered a cedar alternative, but locating small 2x2 cedar style pickets has proven difficult (I do not use treated lumber). However, two weeks ago I stumbled on an available supply.

My plan was simple - install 5 4x4s, cut 6 2x4s into rails, attach 30 2x2 pickets.

I spent one day with the posts and had them aligned and inserted by the end of the day.

The second day, today, I spent cutting rails and attaching them to the posts. 

I then cut the tops off the posts to keep the height of all the posts below the window of the house.

Next step, stain the posts and rails. I will then spend time during the next week notching the pickets, staining them, and attaching them to the rails. I am hopeful I can get this all done in the next two weeks before it starts to get too cold.