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The standard height for a split rail fence is three or four feet. This height requires two to three horizontal rails, making it ideal for homeowners wanting a budget-friendly split rail fence. If you’re hoping to contain agile livestock or animals like dogs, geese, or goats, you may prefer to install a six-foot tall fence with four or five rails or a four-foot-tall fence with three horizontal rails. This will help prevent animals from climbing, crawling, or jumping through the rails.

Vinyl and chicken wire are both highly affordable materials for a DIY garden fence. Vinyl fences can cost as little as $15 per linear foot (perhaps less if you're installing it yourself). Chicken wire fences can cost as little as $2 per linear foot. Chicken wire is obviously more affordable, but if privacy is important to you, vinyl is the best option. 

The height of your garden fence depends on your goals and priorities. Do you need to keep rabbits out? Then you’ll need at least two feet in height to do so. Is it more of a privacy fence? For that, you’ll want to construct something at least 7 feet tall so that there’s little chance anyone can see over the fence. Some garden fences are purely decorative, in which case the height is up to you. 

The distance between fence posts is guided by the terrain you’re installing them on, the purpose of the fence, and the material it’s made of. For the average wooden garden fence, posts should be about 6 to 8 inches apart. But if you’re going with a mesh, wire, lattice, or chain link fence, you could set the fence posts anywhere from 6 to 25 feet apart.