Best way to seclude your garden

 
Hi, I'm a 1st time buyer - a ground floor flat with a garden. I have
zero gardening experience!

My main task is to make the garden more secluded as at the moment there
is just a slotted fence, and the many people who walk by can see in.
Ideally I'd like to get this sorted for the Summer.

Can anyone offer some cheap(ish) and little effort solutions? Is ivy a
possibility, and would I need to stick a climbing mesh up first? Or
Simply plant a load of hedgerows - what types should I look out for?

No matter what I do, it won't stop the trampoline kids next door and the
guy from upstairs who stands smoking at my gate every 30 mins looking
in! But hey, it would be better than it is now.

Also, any other tips on how to pretty up the garden? I'd really like to
start growing herbs/vegetables somehow/somewhere too. The photos
attached show the garden before it was turfed a few months ago.

Thanks for reading.


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Greggo

 
Greggo;913215 Wrote:

I'd add extra boards to the fence on the inside so that they are placed
over the gaps and have their own gaps not in line with the gaps between
the outside boards.  In this way you will still have a fence that has
reduced wind resistance but will achieve privacy.


This will also be instant, unlike ivy which sits for a couple of years
and then goes ballistic.  If you get the timber from a builders merchant
and ask for a price first it shouldn't be too expensive either.  There's
an art to buying from builders merchants but it's the way to go!


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OtherFellow

 On Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:58:15 +0000, OtherFellow


That's a lot of gaps you have to fill there! If you get some pressure
treated timber (featherboard fencing stuff) - make sure it's pressure
treated - and attach it to the inside of the cross rails it will
obscure the view but you should expect to pay around £1 per board so
you can work out the number of gaps and the cost.

You will still, though, have the problem of gaps - the gaps between
(behind) the new boards and the existing ones and the gaps between the
existing ones. If you plant any climbers, they will, in time, find
their way through those gaps. Some of your  fences seem to have
footpaths on the other side so you;'d be expected to keep the growth
cut back off  those.

One possibility is to get featherboards and attach them to the OUTSIDE
of those lengths of fence which you can access, so closing the gaps
tightly. If you really have time, and  given that it's new fencing,
you might even be able to prise off the existing boards and reattach
them tight to each other and then just buy boards to fill in the gap
you end up with at the end of the run. Either way, chances are you
won't have matching timber colour so you may then want to repaint the
fence.

Where a fence is between your house and a neighbour's, check the deeds
to see who owns it (it may be a joint fence or as the posts are on
your side, it might be yours. Before messing with a jointly owned
fence you need the agreement of the other owner.

The other alert I'll chuck at you is to put some money aside each year
to replace the fence. From the pics, it looks like a typical new build
builder's botch job (sorry to say that) where the fence posts are set
in concrete below ground level. Those posts will rot away happily at
soil level and depending on the quality of treatment you have between
5 and 10 years before they need to be replaced. Better to have the
cash put aside than be caught out.

Meanwhile, assuming your gate also has gaps, a suitably located rotary
type lawn sprinkler and an easily accessible tap should see off your
smoking neighbour ;-))

HTH
Jake

 



My daughter at one of her houses wanted some screening so bought reed
screening and fixed it on the inside of her fence

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid ™56843&fh_location=//catalog01/en_GB/categories%3C/categories%3C/categories%3C/categories%3C/specificationsProductType=screening&tmcampid=4&tmad=c&ecamp=cse_go&CAWELAID&6988019


Did a super job

Mike

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...................................
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive
...................................

 On Sat, 19 Feb 2011 22:18:40 -0000, 'Mike' wrote:


I assume she didn't need it at any of her other houses ?
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Regards,

Hugh Jampton