You’ve heard of keeping up with the Jones’ before. How about keeping away from the Jones’? Sometimes having a bit of privacy for your yard is a great way to escape into your own paradise without the feeling of prying eyes. Seriously, weird guy who lives in a RV and drinks brandy from red Solo cups. What’s your deal? Perhaps today is a good day for pants?! I digress.
Now, you can go out and buy yourself a nice tall fence, repaint it every other year. mend it every 5 years and end up spending a fortune on it. But there is another way. Creating a natural growing fence can give you the privacy you seek. Creating a natural fence that provides you with food for the family is even better.
That’s what I chose to do on the back edge of my property. I removed an old wooden fence, that cut my yard in half, right after I bought my house. Unfortunately, it was too short to span the entire back of the lot, so I had to improvise. The fence was so old that it was falling apart way before I dug it up and dragged it to the back of the lot. A feat that was accomplished using ancient Egyptian lifting techniques skillfully wielded by myself until my back went out (the posts were still encased in cement). Regardless, I decided it had a few more years to its life, so I did it anyways. Old wood can provide a rustic feel which can really add charm once the surround plants get established and fill it in a bit (which hasn’t happened quite yet). But what to do about the rest of the span?
Here’s what I ended up with after the mammoth move and re-burying of the posts:
Not much to behold, I know. But it didn’t cost me a cent and it functions as a privacy fence. For now, that is. I didn’t want to pay to have half of a new fence installed just to meet up with an old fence that would have to be replaced in a few years anyways. Paying for an entire new fence was simply out of the question. So I opted for this solution instead:
It’s only been one growing season, and already my two foot tall passion fruit vine has filled in nicely! I also got more fruit off of that vine then I ever could have hoped for. And it’s still producing! Look at how full this beast has become:
Also, when it’s in bloom, which it still is, the flowers are the most unique and beautiful things I’ve seen!
Can you ever grow weary of seeing this in your yard? It’s like some visceral alien mutation. And once the bloom is done, just look at the delicious results!
I was thinking that kiwi might be another great privacy fence vine. With those, however, you need a male and a female. One day perhaps whereas they cost about $30-$40 each. I hope that this gives you a bit of inspiration. You can create whatever shapes you like, even an overhanging trellis would provide a delicious shady section to your garden. If you want it to continue to produce a bunch of fruit year after year, you’ll have to prune it a bit. The flowers only blooms on the current years growth. We’ll see how this one does without pruning until the privacy fence is full enough. A fast growing vine like this will allow you to realize your vision in no time at all. This vine is only 5 months old. Imagine what you could grow in a year or two. Go forth and get creative out there friends. But always remember to mind your dirt. (I’ll stop saying that real soon. Not. Quite. Yet though)
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