Fencing Off the Yard

Today was a cooler day with a bit of wind in the afternoon.  The weather was perfect for spending the day outside setting up the beginnings of a fence.  I found some T posts in the dirt near my propane tank.  They were in need of a little straightening, but there were enough to get started with laying out the fence line.  I decided to fence off an area larger than just the garden itself to provide additional protection for my chickens.  Since I don't want them in the garden beds during the growing season, I left plenty of areas to move them around in for the summer.  I debated on fencing off the long rows that are to the side of the main garden.  In the end I ended up fencing off the whole front yard and will have a gate right next to the main entrance to the house.  The house makes up a whole side of the fenced area and also includes access for the hose, so watering the garden will be easy with this set up.

This is the view looking straight at the house.  I left some space between the fence and the stairs to make working on the fence a little easier. 

This is the other side of the yard where I left quite a bit of space inside the fence to move the chicken tractor around.  I will probably be moving it every couple weeks to keep them on fresh "pasture" as much as possible.

This is the view looking down the front of the yard.  You can see that there is also a little space between the long beds and the fence.  Behind these long beds is another open area that I will move the chickens around in.  This area may also become a larger garden expansion in the future if things go well and I stay in this rental for awhile.

The next step for the fence is to find some adequate fencing to attach to these posts.  Since I am trying to do this for free or very cheap, I have been keeping my eyes open on craigslist.  I am thinking about putting an ad on craigslist, but I may end up getting what I want from the local metal reclaiming area in my town.  For now I think I am off to a good start.  The main garden won't be going in for several more weeks, so I have time to work on finishing off the fence.