Gardening Tips

After all your fence post holes are dug, it’s time to mix the fence post concrete and set your posts.

It’ll look nicer and save you the hassle of having to trim off the top of the fence posts if you make sure all your post holes are the same depth. Aside from the depth of the hole, you need to be sure the top of the posts are all the same height — if your ground is not flat you may have variations in the height after you’ve sunk the posts.

I found it would have been better to place all my posts in the fence post holes and line them up (adding dirt or digging more) where necessary such that they all lined up.

Mixing Concrete

Mixing concrete is one of the hard labor exercises you’ll get to do! I used an old shovel and wheel barrow to mix the cement. Usually 2-3 bags at a time so I’d have enough to set 2-3 posts. Be careful to over flow it with water too much water and you’ll need to add more cement mix to counter balance. Also, be sure the wheel barrow is on solid ground, the last thing you want is to knock it over and have to cleanup.

Pouring Concrete

Pouring concrete is rather easy. I simply scooped it out with the shovel and dumped it into the hole with the post in the hole. Put one scoop on each side of the post and then straighten the post. You have some time before it starts to harden, be careful not to use too much cement. If you overfill the hole then you’ll have to work around big chunks of cement when planting flowers or bender board later.

Plum Your Posts

Plumming your posts is the most critical part of the process. You’ll need a level with a bubble to be sure the post is straight. You’ll want to plum both sides, so it is straight. Simply put the level along the post on one side and tap the post lightly to get it inline. Then do the same on the other side 90 degrees (not the opposite side). You can check all four sides as well to be sure the post is level. Be sure you’re cement is not too wet otherwise the post can rise up or tilt after you walk away. I recommend checking them again in 30 minutes to be sure they haven’t shifted.

Watch for Water

If you have water in the holes as I did after a recent rain, be sure to use enough dry concrete to absorb it all, otherwise you end up with concrete soup, and your fence posts may float up on you while you’re trying to plum them. I gave a few taps on the top with a rubber mallet to be sure the post had sunk down enough — the last thing you want is to realize the next day a fence post floated up on you, and the concrete has already set.

Be sure to get enough stakes (about 1.5 to 2 feet long) so you can brace your fence posts after you set them with concrete. Nail two stakes across the bottom at an angle — one on each side to brace the post. A rubber mallet works well for pounding the stake into the ground at a 45 degree angle and then nailing two nails into the fence post to keep them in place.

It took me about 7 hours to set 14 fence posts — although the last 4 . About two-thirds of that time was spent mixing, so if you are in a hurry you may want to use the alternative method where you pour dry concrete mix into the hole and get an attachment for the garden hose that you can sink down into the hole to water the cement.

Depending on where you live a little frost is not a big deal. Living on the California Central Coast I don’t ever dig up my dahlias I cut them back after they have died down and compost my bed with rich organic compost. Then I add a layer of mulch to keep the moister in and the freezing to a minimum. The first frost of the year you will notice that all of the foliage is dead. I clean that up by cutting or pulling the stems off the tubers.

One great aspect of not digging up your dahlias is that the tubers grow big and multiply. Then you can always separate them out for more plants or to share with gardening friends. I have found that the Dahlia plant gets bigger and taller in the growing season, summer. You will find that you get a lot more blossoms and longer stems.

If you live in snow country dig up your dahlias a frost will turn them into mush and it is yucky. I lived in Bend OR and I would keep my dahlias in black planters so that I could bring them in easily. It can be frustrating and time consuming to dig up all of your dahlias. A friend of mine she always puts them in painted plastic containers so they look pretty and are decorative.

Remember snails, slugs, and mildew love dahlias… see related future articles on the battle between me and the mildew.

I’ve decided to become a do-it-yourself-er and build a fence in my garden in an effort to keep the dogs out of the flower garden.

The basic principles I’ve discovered are as follows:

Plant your 4×4 vertical fence posts no more than 8 feet apart (6 is better so the railings don’t sag over time — plus 6 feet is easier to haul home from the lumber yard than 8 foot boards with room to spare for trimming the length).

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Measure out the placement of the fence post holes with stakes and a string to ensure you get the right distance, also be sure to keep the fence line as straight as possible.

If you’re putting a swinging gate in, be sure to measure it large enough for a wheel barrel to fit through the gate. Typically this is 3 feet wide between fence posts.

I opted to make two swinging gates one on each side of the yard for easy access. Most of the area behind the fence is going to be the garden and it helps to bring a wheel barrel in and out from two different entrances.

Year of the Dog trailer In my case, I have a 6 foot yard fence between my neighbors and I — one across the back and two on either side. My garden fence is going to be a 3-foot high fence with posts 8 feet apart and a railing on the top and bottom (set horizontally or “on edge”) with wire mesh to keep the dogs out.

I mapped out the fence line following the curved lawn edge, while sinking fence posts a little closer (3-4 feet in a few places) to get that “rounded” feel to it. The fence won’t have the same curvature as the bender-board that will be placed in-front of the fence, but at least there will be some shape to it besides a rectangle. Map it out on paper before hand so you get a good idea of what you’re doing.

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On to the fun stuff — post hole digging! I’m not a professional, as I said before…keep your self well paced. I can dig 2-3 holes (2.5 feet deep) in a 2 hour period before my wrists and arms started to ache. Allow yourself a few weekends depending on the number of fence post holes you have to dig. I dug 14 fence post holes over the span of 3 weekends. It gets easier as you go, so don’t be discouraged if the first fence post hole takes you 2 hours.

As for the fence post depth — for a 3 foot high fence it’s recommended you sink the post at least 2 feet — two and a half feet is better. I sunk each post 27 inches deep. Don’t go to deep…assuming you have a 6 foot post or 8 foot post you can have some extra room to spare. For a 3 foot high fence and a 2-2.5 foot hole, with a 6 foot 4×4 I will have an extra foot to work with when I start to sink the posts.

As for buying a post hole digger, there are pretty much the same. The two things I noticed were whether the post hole digger had a ruler on it — I highly recommend getting the one with inches marked on the handles, up to 48 inches. It makes it rather easy to not have to stop and use a tape measure to find out how deep you’ve dug the hole. The other option available are the handle grips ( cushioned or no cushions ). The only post hole digger at Home Depot with the measurement markings had cushioned handles — about $30. It won’t make much difference if you’re using gloves.

Before you start to do the actual digging, be sure you’ve marked out where all the posts go. Plant a stake in the ground to mark each post hole (leave about 8 inches in front of the stake for the actual hole). Then run a line of string from each stake, be sure to keep a straight line (go from one corner to the other corner, then sink a few stakes in between to mark where your holes go). Make sure the string is taught so as not to sag or otherwise leave you with a crooked fence line.

When you’re ready to dig, be sure to use what’s known as the “spear chucker” method — where you lightly chuck the post hole digger down into the ground, letting go just before impact — this is critical to avoiding soreness later on. You don’t want your wrists and arms to absorb the impact with the ground so just let go as you chuck it down into the dirt. It will take some time to get the feel of it. You probably will never get one huge scoop in one shot. After digging a few holes I realized the deeper I got, the easier it became if I gently closed the post hole digger handles breaking up the dirt at the bottom of the hole without lifting out the dirt every time. Do this a few times before you pull out a scoop of dirt — you’ll exert less energy and will eventually get down to 2.5 feet without killing yourself in the process.

That’s it for now on post hole digging. More to come as I progress through this project.