Install a Garden Fence

1 Measure your garden's perimeter, using a tape measure. This will indicate the amount of chicken wire necessary to enclose your garden.

2 Calculate how many stakes you need by dividing the perimeter's diameter by five. For example, if your perimeter is 25 feet, you'll need five stakes. The stakes will be placed at least every 5 feet around the perimeter of your fence.

3 Place string along each side of your garden and secure it with a heavy object such as stone. Dig a trench at least 1 foot deep and 2 inches wide behind the length of string, using a shovel.

4 Place one stake at the corner of the trench and hammer it 1 foot into the ground. Repeat with the remaining stakes at each corner. After the last corner is finished, begin hammering stakes at 5-foot intervals around the perimeter of the garden. To mark the opening of your fence, hammer the last two stakes 3 feet apart.

5 Place the chicken wire in the trench behind the stakes. Have another person help you. Pull the chicken wire tightly and staple the entire length of the wire at 5-inch intervals along the entire length of the stake. Unroll the chicken wire as you go until you have stapled the wire around the entire perimeter of the garden.

6 Backfill with soil and firmly press down with the back of the shovel as you complete each side. When you reach your gate stakes, roll out an extra 2 feet of wire around them. Cut 2 feet off the bottom of the wire, using wire cutters. Secure the gate to the adjacent wire with tie wire to open and close the gate.