Building Fences

J and I have spent most of our free time and effort over the last year digging in our yard. I'm pretty convinced that it hadn't been gardened in over a decade, so most of the soil was hard-packed clay with layers and layers of plastic and junk. We started with our side yard, moved to the back yard, and then slowly made it to the front this spring. 

After planting raspberries this fall we realized that the pre-fabricated ugly fence panel separating our front and back yards was blocking the sun in a major way. Also, did I mention that it's ridiculously tall and ugly? At one time it was necessary to keep a dog from mauling other people and animals, but in our yard was not necessary. J and I had been talking about replacing the segment for months before we decided to just take it down a couple of weekends ago. First we thought of replacing it with another wood fence, but having the front yard open to the back changed the space for the better. So, we walked around our neighborhood, gathered ideas, and settled on a lower fence composed mostly of a metal mesh so that it turns nearly invisible. Our next task is to run a cable along the top of the posts to train vines.

Little was an eager helper when we were building the fence frame. Hammering everything but the fence was his specialty. We finally coaxed him from hammering dents in the garage siding to hammering scrap concrete that we dug out of the side yard. Behind Miles, you can see the supports for our pole beans and in the foreground, our happy rose and raspberries. 

More garden shots to come. It's amazing the difference a year makes.