So you’ve worked hard all year to create the perfect lawn, you’ve scarified, aerated, fed, watered, cut, and strimmed your way to success, and thankfully all the hard work has paid off. There’s just one problem, the whole scene still looks unfinished! Maybe you’ve got flower beds, a patio, a pond or other features, but something is still missing…
Could that something be a proper frame for the whole scene, a hedge or fence perhaps? It’s surprising how much of a difference having a good solid perimeter feature can have on the overall impression of a garden, so it’s definitely worth taking the time to get it right.
When it comes to fencing there are a whole range of options available to you, and each will give your garden a different look and tone.
If you’re looking to achieve greater privacy in your garden then the obvious choice is to go for wooden panel fencing. The closed overlap of the panels mean they are a completely opaque barrier, whilst at the same time not too foreboding in their appearance. If you do go down the wooden panelling route just make sure you either buy it pre-treated, or use a suitable varnish or paint to protect it from the force of moisture and extremes of temperature. For a customised fence that fits the contours of your garden perfectly, it won’t be a case of simply buying panels off the shelf, you’ll have to more or less build the thing on site from scratch, which takes longer, and is likely to cost you more. On the plus side you won’t be restricted to the wooden slats used in standard panel fencing, you’ll be able to make it look exactly as you wish.
If you’re after something that does the same job as wooden panel fencing, but don’t fancy having to paint, or replace weathered or damaged areas, then plastic vinyl fence panels are also an option. Of course it doesn’t look organic as wooden fencing does but perhaps that won’t be a problem if you have plants and creepers growing next to or on it.
In contrast to panelled fences you could choose to put up rail fencing, the kind made up of vertical and horizontal beams. Of course, this is no good as a security measure as it’s easily scaled or squeezed through! It does however look great and can create some nice definition between different areas of your garden.
To go all out ‘fortress style’ you could go down the solid stone wall route. A solid wall is obviously going to be time consuming and costly to build, and unless you’re prepared to invest in something reasonably high, it will probably not be the ideal security option either. However there’s no denying the timeless quality a wall has, and it could add real value to your property.
