# Forum Home Renovation Landscaping, Gardening & Outdoors  Protecting a fence from soil from a raised garden bed

## Wallaby

Hi guys, 
We have already built a raised garden bed in the backyard, backing onto our existing paling fences. And we are looking to somehow build a back to the raised beds. 
We were thinking of cement sheeting (I think we have some blue board) - has anyone used this to separate the soil from the fence and if so, did it last long enough (ie we will probably have to replace fences in the next 10 years or so anyway) or did it get water logged and just deteriorate quickly? 
Any other suggestions???

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## cherub65

What is the height?

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## jago

Black plastic against the fence use the blueboard to stop the plastic from tearing. :2thumbsup:

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## Micmac

I used old politicians (on white plastic). -    
With an election around the corner, might work for you.  -  
Just make sure the very bottom of the palings are reinforced, or they will bow out.

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## jago

> I used old politicians (on white plastic). -    
> With an election around the corner, might work for you.  -  
> Just make sure the very bottom of the palings are reinforced, or they will bow out.

  What a great use ...I will see if I can find some of those pesky real estate boards that the wind has blown over to do mine :Wink 1: ...

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## Wallaby

hehehehe - I think thats a perfect use for old politicians!!! 
Its only about 1 metre high - more worried about the rotting of the fence. But will definately check to make sure the base is secure. 
Cool - we have tried blackplastic but will use the blueboard on top of it - thanks!

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## Bedford

> I think thats a perfect use for old politicians!!!

  And new ones too!
Keep in mind that you *can* over fertilize your garden. :Smilie:

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## cherub65

Don't place that much soil against your fence, forces will be to great, fence will move and it will be you fault

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## Wallaby

We were going to put posts in the ground at the back of the garden bed and use the posts to brace the blueboard in front of the fence so as to protect the fence - would this hold the weight?? Soil will be about 80-90cms above the ground.

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## m6sports

As cherub65 said i wouldnt be going to high up as a fence isnt designed to hold back that much weight  
Also something to consider is when it comes time to replace the fences they are going to have to remove the soil before they can erect a new one  
your better off building a retaining wall in front of the fence

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## m6sports

> We were going to put posts in the ground at the back of the garden bed and use the posts to brace the blueboard in front of the fence so as to protect the fence - would this hold the weight?? Soil will be about 80-90cms above the ground.

  why not just do it right so that you dont need to worry about it in the future
instead of blue board use either 1/2 round or round treated pine logs  
Im not to sure if 1/2 round will be enough for that height but someone here will

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## Gooner

> And new ones too!
> Keep in mind that you *can* over fertilize your garden.

   :Rofl:

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## cherub65

> We were going to put posts in the ground at the back of the garden bed and use the posts to brace the blueboard in front of the fence so as to protect the fence - would this hold the weight?? Soil will be about 80-90cms above the ground.

  No it wont hold the weight at all, the amount of times I've seen this done truly amazes me. As said before a nightmare to fix and the blame game starts especially when the person responsible has moved on. Please do it right the first time 
A planter box in front of a fence should be just that, incorporate a rear wall (if overly long this can be tied into the front wall for added strength)

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## murray44

I absolutely wouldn't put anything against a fence, they're not made for it. Putting plastic against it won't help because the water will get in and then it will just rot next to the plastic. There is a huge weight in 80-90 cm of soil. 
The garden bed needs to stand on it's own with a gap between it and the fence, the gap needs to be big enough so that you can clean the crap out from time to time i.e. leave yourself 4 - 6 inches.

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