I would worry about the pressure treated lumber because of two reasons. First is if it wasn't treated correctly, the poisons they use to treat the wood might leach out into your yard. The second reason is my neighbor's fence. They used the pre-built pressure treated wood and most of the pickets are warped at the top. It looks all wavy. We replaced one side of our fence using the pre-built cedar panels and attached them to the metal poles with the pole brackets. It is at least a two person job, but we were able to do it ourselves and it really is best to use the metal poles and not wood since the wood posts rot. Oh, and something else - if you use paint, it will chip and look bad after a few years.

If it was me, I would go ahead and spend a little more and have them use cedar because it will last longer than the pressure treated and look a whole lot better in the long run. Our neighbors are also having their fence replaced and it was supposed to be done last week, but with all the rain, they have the metal posts, but no fence yet.

I agree with denise 100%. Also, if you have wood touching the ground you will have termites in the fence eventually. I'd also not paint it either, but let it weather naturally. I'd do cedar - you'll be much happier and it will last longer.

Pressure treated lumber is not for edible gardens. It is treated with arsenic to keep away the bugs.

Thanks - that's exactly what I needed to know. We've crossed that one off the list, and we're pricing the cedar.

Pressure treated lumber no longer has arsenic in it. The new stuff, without arsenic. will not last as long as the old stuff unless you special order the right grade. The stuff you buy at the big box stores are NOT made to put into the ground. Don't let anyone tell you it is. You also need to use stanless steel nails when putting anything together using that lumber. All other nails will corrode in no time at all. Scary. Now if you want to use it above the ground it will do fine but make sure you use a thicker board and not one as thin as a privacy fence. Those goes bad to fast. I would do a lot of research on treated boards before I built anything using them to more fully understand what they can do.
Keep in mind how long you really think you will need to keep this fence up. 5, 10, years? That will help you make a decision to.
If one can afford it cedar boards are always the way to go.

We're only doing the part of the fence that is facing the street right now, and the bulk of the wood we use will go to the gate and framing the metal mesh panels. Not sure how we'll eventually pay to fence the longer side and back sections in cedar, but I think after reading this thread and looking up more info online, we're going to stay away from the pressure-treated stuff.

We're planning to have this fence up as long as it will last and make repairs as needed.

Do termites go for cedar?

Cedar repels insects. Just don't let any wood touch the ground.

Now . . . we may have wood on the sides of our property to give us privacy from those neighbors separating the backyards, but across the back and on either side of the house facing the street, we installed vinyl fencing and have an automatic gate with the same stuff that goes across our driveway. We chose the open picket vinyl so we get good air circulation. Having that wind blow through there really makes a huge difference when the weather is warm. Our house faces south, so it blows right through and keeps it fairly cool - much cooler than having a solid wood fence there. We did hire someone to install the gate, but the rest of the fence, we put that in ourselves.

So what kind of posts would you recommend? We want wood posts - maybe if they're in a concete foot they won't rot as quickly? I can always plant pretty stuff around them - what do you think?

The south side of our yard is going to have alternative framed mesh wire panels and vertical angled slats that both allow for lots of air flow.