Do you need a garden gate? This free-standing gate (no need to dig!) is designed to work with wire deer-fencing. It’s a simple DIY design.

A free-standing and deer-proof garden gate

This wooden garden gate is beautiful, easy to build, and easy to attach to deer fencing. It also has a simple weighted automatic closure! I wish we could take credit for the design. But that honor belongs to our friend Shane. We copied his design for this project! (With permission, of course!)

Here are a few of the features of this DIY garden gate:

It’s tall enough to keep out deer.
Attaches nicely to our metal deer fencing.
It’s free-standing, which means we can move it if we decide to expand our garden. It also means we didn’t have to dig holes for garden posts… something we wanted to avoid on our rocky piece of land.
We made a weighted closure, which ensures our garden is deer-proof even if we forget to latch the gate.

Like most of my more complicated building instructions, I’m going to provide a cut list and rough instructions along with plenty of photographs. So this project is better for someone who has experience with simple wood projects. If you’re a beginner, then you may need a bit more help.

Feel free to ask questions!

Rope and pulley weighted closure design. — *Rope and pulley weighted closure.*

Deer-proof garden gate

Yield: 1 gate

Active Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours

Difficulty: Moderate

This wooden garden gate is beautiful, easy to build, and easy to attach to deer fencing. It is free-standing and has a simple weighted automatic closure.

Materials

Garden Gate Frame

3 x 8ft 4x4
2 x 8ft 2x4
3 x 5ft 2x10
A bunch of 3 ½” deck screws

The Door

2 x 8ft 2x3
1 x 8ft 1x4
10 x 8ft 1x2
A few 2” deck screws
A bunch of 1 ¼” deck screws

Finishing Touches

Instructions

If you have the budget, Brad recommends using cedar for longevity. Alternatively, you can do what we did, and use cedar for the frame and SPF for the door.

Build the Base

Cut one 4x4 into 42” lengths; these will form the bottom sides of the gate. Cut two of the 2x10s to 50”; these will form the bottom thresholds.
Mark the center on the bottom-side 4x4s and align the remaining 4x4s on the center. Screw the 3 ½” screws in on an angle to attach the 4x4s. Make sure you keep everything nice and square.
Cut six 24” lengths of 2x4. Then cut the ends at a 45-degree angle. Screw 4 of these boards to the 4x4 joints to provide much-needed stability.

Adding the lintel

The lintel is made from the remaining 2x10. If you want to have the top lintel fit the frame, cut it to 54” (this will leave a 2” overhang). We left ours uncut for a wider overhang.

Use the remaining 2x4 pieces to support the lintel.

Build the door

Cut the 2x3s to 84”. Cut the 1x4s to 42”. Assemble the door frame with 2” screws, making sure to keep everything square as you put it together.
Cut eight 1x2s to 84”. Attach the cut 1x2s to the door frame with the 1” screws keeping a consistent gap between the slats. Cut the remaining 1x2s to length to fit as cross braces. Attach the cross braces to the door frame and slats with the 1” screws.
Get help from friends to hang the door. Add some finishing hardware (like a latch, and a weighted closure if you're using it) and you're done!