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Orchard-boundary post spacing on East Kent fruit-belt fences

Post spacing, gauge, and wind-load thinking on the longer boundary runs that back onto the East Kent orchards around Wingham, Staple and Preston.

The boundary between a village garden and the orchard behind is one of the longer runs in the trade. On the Wingham, Staple and Preston sides where the fruit-belt sits right against the back gardens, a rear boundary of 60m to 120m is not unusual. Post spacing, post gauge, and cross-wind exposure change the spec.

The default

Standard closeboard on 100mm x 100mm (4-inch) mortised posts sits at 1800mm centres. That is the fleet default on a sheltered garden boundary of any length.

What an orchard boundary changes

• Wind funnel. The gap between the last orchard row and the fence acts as a wind funnel in the November-to-March gales. On the Preston boundary I run 1500mm centres, sometimes 1200mm on the most exposed runs at the top of the rise where the wind gets under the trees.
• Post gauge. Where the fence backs onto a working orchard with heavy pickup traffic, we go to 125mm posts. Adds about £4/m to the material cost but roughly doubles the working life against side-impact damage.
• Gravel-board setback. Orchards are wet at the base for a lot of the year. Concrete gravel boards are non-negotiable here - they keep the timber panels off the wet ground and stop the closeboard rotting from the base.

Concrete depth

Post-hole depth: 600mm minimum, 750mm on the exposed runs. Fast-set post-mix by weight not by eye - one full 20kg bag per hole, not a scoop. Dry-mix hole-fill on windy December installs to avoid slurry blow.

Wire trace

On the orchard side, we run a single galvanised straining wire along the top of the gravel board and clip the panel bases to it. Stops the panels lifting in the strongest gales and keeps the run visually straight.