Good fences make good gardens. There is no better time to get started than at the end of the growing season. It's the perfect time to assess and plan projects for next year. Wouldn't it be great to cross one or two off the list now?
The highs and lows of fence design
Step one is to assess the situation. Are large foragers – deer, bears – the problem? A tall, strong fence is the only answer.
Are smaller creatures, such as raccoons and the family pet trampling and sampling? Minimum effort may be all that's needed here.
Go big and go cheap
Home gardeners are generally of the do-it-yourselfer nature. Most will strive to spend as little as possible to protect that hard-won produce. It is an admirable quality that should be encouraged.
My neighbor recently offered up a shining example of that type of ingenuity.
As snow melted this past spring, a pile of wooden pallets began to grow on her lawn. Then came days of an odd, steady pounding noise. Not long after, the view from my adjoining garden included a quickly moving procession of pallets around her garden plot.
Pounding in u-channel metal posts, such as what is used for stop signs, she created a sturdy structural basis. The pallets, turned so the double row of boards run horizontal, easily slipped over the posts, and viola, a fence!
Free equals good fences
Pallets are free. They are seldom re-used for shipping. Any establishment that accepts bulk deliveries tends to find them piling up and is happy to be rid of them. Check at lumberyards, hardware and tile stores, and in the classifieds. Getting them home, even one or two at a time, can be a problem for those with a conventional vehicle. Ask about a delivery, or find a friend with a pickup truck.
It ain't very pretty, at first
"It's not very pretty," my neighbor said, shrugging apologetically when the job was done.
Wooden pallets are sturdy, and vining plants love to clutch onto their un-sanded boards. Once the squash and cucumber plants hit their stride, they proceeded to cascade up the side of the fence with wide, green leaves and yellow and orange flowers. By midsummer, it all looks picture-perfect.
Her only lament was paying eight dollars each for the posts. However, they are a good investment; likely to last for many years. Sprucing up the fence will be as simple as replacing pallets as needed.
Good gates make great fences
The real beauty of this design is the ease with which a gate can be installed. It's as simple as one pallet getting to pivot on a post at one end, or in the middle. The gate can be "locked" with a loop of rope or wire dropped over protruding boards on the gate and an adjoining pallet.
Short fences make for little effort
My garden issue was the family pets finding the turned soil a great spot for burying bones, and other
pursuits prompted by the call of nature.
The answer came in the form of a large roll of fencing; the kind with heavy, woven and welded horizontal and vertical wire. I rolled it out across the yard and cut long, 1-foot high sections. Vertical wires left protruding from one long side and poked into the ground hold the fence in place around the garden.
By the way, I got it free at the town dump.
Short fences are a trip
My short fence is easy to step over wherever I want. It can't guarantee to keep animals out, but the dogs were easily trained to respect it as a boundary. Cats are just hopeless.
After I forgot and tripped over it a few times, my son got the idea to weave bright yellow nylon rope across the top edge.
An unforeseen advantage; the fence is easily rolled up for the winter and we can rake autumn leaves directly into the garden. It is sheltered from the wind, so they stay put. They have proven to make excellent mulch. Come spring, it's a simple matter of raking out narrow planting rows.
Karen Bartomioli - Karen Bartomioli has been writing for a weekly newspaper for more than 19 years, taking a catch more bees with honey approach. Living, ...
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