We all just love the many different forms of life that invade our gardens and call them home. For the most part we have ways of dealing with most of it. But, how do you keep out small animals? Yes we can set traps. Most of the time the traps just catch fat animals! We need something that never lets them in to begin with.
We can create something that will do the job and also provide a stunning display of living color. We will build a wrought iron fence enclosure and coax different vines to grow over each of the different enclosure surfaces. Then we can take the whole idea a step farther and grow vines on several different items within the enclosure right there in the garden.
This project is a combination moderate construction work and vine planting. The first thing to do is determine the area you want to enclose. We will deal with a rectangle here only because it is easier to illustrate the procedure. The procedure can be applied to any shape but will become more time consuming as complexity goes up.
After you have determined the length of your area perimeter you need to go out and get some 6ft wrought iron fencing. The closer the bars the smaller the animals it can keep out. You need at least one entrance and can use a gate mounted to an arbor for it. I recommend mounting the fence in concrete. You can get away with just the four corners and the doorway posts but the fence will do a better job if animals cannot tunnel underneath. While you are at it find different wrought iron objects for the inside of the garden. Arbors, plant stand benches, trellises to mount to the fence, hanging flower pots, and anything that is conductive to vine growth. Place these inside the garden area. No need for concrete as these are decorative. Use nylon mesh to go over the top of the entire structure.
Layout your structure on the ground and dig holes where support posts are going to go. Consult your government development office for the correct depth. Follow the instructions on the bag to mix the concrete and pour into the hole. Set your posts in the concrete and level them. then clamp a couple of long pieces of junk wood to the posts while they set overnight. Once your posts are solid bolt the fence sections and arbor to them. You can also add stepping stones. Make them into a path up to the entrance and inside your garden area.
Now that you have your wrought iron enclosure prepared its time to start the vines growing. Deciduous vines will shade in the summer and go bare in the winter to come back the following season. Annual vines only last the season but will allow you to experiment from season to season. So you have to decide which kind. Once that is done you can choose the type of vine based on its climbing abilities.
There are three climbing methods used by vines; Tendrils, Twining, and Clinging. Clinging vines work best on walls and therefore are really not suitable here. Tendril type vines use tendrils or slim, flexible, leafless stems that wrap themselves around anything. Grapes are the best known type of tendril vine. Twining vines such as Honeysuckle and Wisteria wind there stems around any available support. Tendril and twining vines will both grow well in moist and well drained soil. Plant them at regular intervals near the main support of each section of fence. They will grow rapidly and may need pruning to train them in the desired direction. See what types of vines grow best in your area. Try to stick to a color theme and carry that theme to the objects inside the garden.
You now have a beautiful place for your garden to grow in peace and a quiet private place for you to go and enjoy it. Copyright 2008 Fred Mench
Fred very much believes in doing it yourself and loves the outdoors. He also is the creator of www.EarthSkyandWater.com A Web 2.0 total value internet resource that puts customers first and provides both information and products for the outdoors.
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