Planning Your Garden Fence

Whether you are buying a garden fence directly from garden stores or are building one yourself from your own plans, you have to think about it first. What are you keeping out? People, dogs, deer, or rabbits? Flower and vegetable garden plans will also have to take into account the layout of the garden. If you put the wrong kind of fence in the wrong place, you may find yourself unable to weed or harvest efficiently.

Fences for gardens are not only to keep out unwanted intruders, but also have an aesthetic purpose. A white picket fence is often lovely with a flower garden, while a vegetable garden might call for something a little earthier. A fence can create an air of mystery, romance, or rustic simplicity. Fences can also be functional; you can tie the roses to them, or allow the vine-growing vegetables to use them as stakes.

What Kind of Garden Are You Planting?

If your garden is a backyard garden for your own enjoyment, you could use a solid plank fence to surround the entire yard and not separate the garden from the rest of the lot. On the other hand, if you enjoy showing your beautiful flowers to people who walk or drive by, you should plan for a more open fence design that complements the plants.

If you have a vegetable garden where you will be spending a lot of time weeding, you want to make sure that the fence doesn’t prevent you from using a hoe or getting on your knees with a trowel in places that you will need to.

It is also possible to create a more natural fence, using living plants as the barrier themselves or planning special arbor-type entrances to the garden instead of gates. Landscape architects will have unusual and interesting ideas for fences. While a fence is often necessary to keep out animals, a garden should still look like a garden and not a fortress.

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