I NEED YOUR HELP! Steemit Poll
For those of you who haven't been following me for awhile, my husband and I just bought a new farm in July and are steadily building our homestead dreams. We had plants in pots, so our first project was a start a new vegetable garden from scratch -- check out our post on how we did it: Starting a New Garden From Scratch -- and our post Our First Month Homesteading -- for more background info.
So we quickly threw up a wire fence to keep the dogs and kids out of it. (Jack thought we had built him his very own special dirt sandbox).
Now that things are slowing down for the Winter (thank God), I'm looking at a more permanent, more attractive fence to surround our home vegetable garden. I've come across two options: both will be free to build (we have materials for both around the farm), and both will take a very long time to do on nights and weekends. So the question is, which is prettier? Because pretty is important.
BTW - none of these photos are mine, they're pulled from google images.
1. A Waddle Fence
2. A Living Bamboo Fence
This is where we need your help! Which do you like more? 1 or 2? Vote in the comments section below. Once we've decided on one, I'll be sure to post in progress pics and share what we learn through the process!
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I'd say number one because bamboo is not native to the US and can become invasive.
Upvoted. You deserve all our help
If you are just keeping out kids and dogs (and not deer), I suggest using fruit trees and growing them into a living fence, espalier style. They can be beautiful and last for decades and decades. And they provide food, too! Apple trees work especially well for espalier, but pears do great, too.
Oh that's a great idea!! I'll have to do more research!
I'd go with the wattle fence, unless you also need shade, then the bamboo would be more helpful. As mentioned elsewhere in comments, too, bamboo can be invasive, so containment would be a factor. Wattle just seems more in line with the use you intend for it.
Personally, I would go waddle. It will be a lot of work, but I think you will be happier in the long run. It just seems to fit for homesteading. A bamboo, on the other hand, is harder to control. It tends to grow like wildfire and become invasive real quick.
bamboo can get crazy. Of course, you would need the clumping kind and you could plant edible bamboo, but it takes a lot of maintenance. The waddle is pretty, but I am with @haphazard-hstead. A fedge or edible hedge is a great solution. And if you need to keep our deer and such, you can do a double planting. Something with lots of thorns on the outside - it can have fruit to feed the wild life, but they will not want to come in and something without thorns on the inside. You will loose the fruit growing in the middle, but chances are there won't be too much anyways.
I would go with #2
I would go for No.1. Good luck.
They're both very attractive, but I like the wattle best. (Also, see http://grammarist.com/usage/waddle-wattle/)
having had bamboo I can only say DON'T lol You will constantly (and I really mean constantly, year after year, month after month) having to work on it to keep it in somewhat looking close to a format you were once (naivly) dreaming about... and it will grow rizomes all over the place.... nightmare! I would rather choose the first option you proposted, but... having been homesteading for almost 10 years now - consider the amount of shade/shadow this will create... I have a chestnut-wood "Staketen-fence" around my veggie garden (keeping kids, dog, chicken, rabbits etc. out) but letting enough sunlight inside.... Cheers from Germany!
I hadn't thought about the sunlight...and yes - I wasn't going to use bamboo, but willow. My mom has a large willow tree and you can put the sticks in the ground and they'll root...at least that's what the internet says!
Willow will work, but creates constant work almost like the bamboo - but without the rhizomes... I put some willow sticks in the ground just at the entrance to the veggiegarden two years ago and am working on an arc-shape... maybe you can see it on this pic... if you fence with willow, you'll have to work it into position/form and cut out all not needed branches all the time... we built an iglo from willow in kindergarden and last year nobody found the time to keep it in shape... so just now, today, hubby went there to chop the top off (it's a mess) with the motorsaw and I will try to "braide" the top back into a decent shape throughout the next year... will be a monthly task....