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Desperate Landscape: Creating a Garden Spot on Garden Road New shutters, a white picket fence and a generous helping of new plantings puts new sparkle on a diamond-in-the rough. From "Desperate Landscapes" episode DDSL-106

(Continued from page 2)

The completed picket fence

Building a Decorative Picket Fence

A decorative picket fence adds some architectural detail to a landscape. In Mary Lynn's case, Jason is building a two-sided fence. Jason chose to use pre-cut cedar pickets, but you can save money by using pine pickets because a fence like this is purely decorative and does not need to be very sturdy. Since it is a small fence, the posts and rails are assembled and then installed as one unit.

Steps:

• Cut pressure-treated posts to desired height. Our posts sit 42-inches above the ground.

• Cut rails to desired length.

• Attach rails to posts with framing gun.
  

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  	Figure F
  	Figure G
  	Figure H
  	Figure I

• Always wear safety glasses and follow the manufacturer's instructions when using power tools.

• Dig post holes. These should generally be two to three times the width of the post and set deeper than the frost line to prevent heaving.

• Posts can be secured with a quick-setting concrete or with gravel.

• After the posts are in the holes, check for level.

• To assemble the fence, Jason first cut a spacer. He opted for spacing two inches between pickets, so he cut a two inch block of wood to act as a guide for adding the pickets (figures F and G).

• Jason places a picket on the post and uses a framing gun to secure it (figure H).

• After one picket is secured, use the spacer to determine where the second picket should be placed and secure it.

• Repeat the steps to complete the picket fence (figure I).

• Once the fence was built, it was painted white to give it that traditional picket-fence charm.

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