That’s not a fence, that’s a garden!
Readers of this site will know I’m not a big fan of fences. I do believe they serve mostly unproductive purposes. However the some that are important and useful, like to keep kiddies safe etc needn’t be so darn ugly all the time! And of course the ugliest of fences is a chain link or hurricane fence. They do however make great canvases!
We have a big fence around our community garden where we have our Permaculture Playgroup and it does serve a useful purpose, it keeps the little kids in and almost keeps the big bored night time naughty kids out, almost.. Over the last year and a bit I’ve been coordinating little projects to help beautify our fence and to make it function a bit better.
I started with a moving mural on the south side of the garden to act as a bit of a wind break. We keep adding to it with our scraps and it looks great, especially when you enter the park from the south side and you get the best view of it. We have two main winds, a westerly and a southerly. When it comes form the west, the strips of fabric flap and wave in the wind, looking really pretty. When it comes from the south the fabric gets pushed flat against the fence and helps keep the wind from heading straight at the kids in the sandpit.
All the fabric is attached using a basic latch hook rug style technique. Is there a name for this type of knot, anyone?
We’ve also been weaving little hearts a la outdoorknit along one little part of the fence. It’s a spot visible from the playground and the shops across the road and whilst they serve no functional purpose, they make the garden look so friendly and inviting despite the great hunka fence around it!
Not fence related but still lovely was the bunting we made last year with bumble bees gocco’d on some of the flags. Along with the streamers fluttering around the garden it gives the place a truly festive atmosphere!
Next up was the infamous bra bug gardens. They didn’t hold up too well in the weather. You definitely need to use a padded bra! The one I used was black and it’s faded quite a lot, so I recommend if anyone makes any of these you go over board with the decorations. One of the ones I made collapsed and the other one was doing ok but then the potting shed got moved in front of it so I’m not sure how it’s doing now..
But I’ve taken the same theory and expanded on it! I went to Reverse Art Truck aka heaven, a while back and amongst my treasures, Iscored a pile of industrial cardboard cotton spools. We decorated the outsides of them by spray painting a base layer and then sticking some lace on and spraying again with a contrasting colour then peeling the lace off. Instant pretty patterns!
We filled the spools with a layer of toy stuffing (cause I had some dirty stuff lying around) but you could use straw mulch or anything. just something to plug the hole at the bottom of the spool. Then we filled them with dirt and stuck a little baby succulent in each one.
Some of the spools were tied to the fence, some were stuck in the branches of the vine that grows on that part of the fence. We chose to do it there so when the vine covers itself in leaves over the summer months, it’ll provide some shade for the plants, and then they get the sunshine in summer!
The bright colours on the spools also went beautifully with a craft project we did a couple of weeks ago which also ended up on the fence.
Next step is to experiment with what we can grow in them. I started with the easiest but keen to hear any suggestions for food plants that might like minimal amounts of soil and water and plenty of sunlight. Yeah, I know..
Next project plan is to experiment with fence weaving techniques, so til then, happy fence arrrting
xx
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4 Responses to “That’s not a fence, that’s a garden!”
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hi rayna
i love all of your fence art! i yarn tagged a similar fence on my local community garden a few years back, but it sure could do with more! thanks so the ideas!
Lex´s last [type] ..sold! to the highest bidder
love your ongoing commentary on fencing. Those temporary fencing companies should be forced to hire you for sites over one year vacant.
verry nics work have you, i follow your blog
Mvg Sarah
Beautiful!
ps… it’s kinda difficult to comment on your site… long process