Will this work for garden privacy?

[HateNosyNeighbours]

We have a very long garden which is overlooked by our nosy neighbours. Last summer they stood at their bedroom windows spying on us every time we went out and major curtain twitching was going on.

This year I’m thinking of buying some 8ft or 10ft bamboo canes and then tying on with wire something like this so I make a makeshift High privacy screen. We have an alleyway between us so will need to go down at least 6ft.

I will stick the bamboo canes in the ground and hope they stay for the summer and then remove for the winter.

Will this work? We don’t know if we’ll be staying here in the future so don’t want to invest in trees and hedges just yet.

Please don’t use the plastic stuff.
Apart from looking awful, being a danger to wildlife and causing micro plastic run off, the leaves blow off in the wind and you get bald patches so no privacy any way. It ends up looking like bits of green plastic bags caught in the fence.

That won't stop
Them looking at you from their bedroom windows

I’d maybe try bamboo screening. I think it would be easier and look better.

www.bmstores.co.uk/products/split-bamboo-screening-180-x-300cm-380031

Okay, if not plastic, what then? The bamboo screening isn’t tall enough. Would I be able to affix it to the canes somehow? I need at least 10ft high coverage.

@nearlyspringyay okay. What will then? 😆

I didnt think you can have more than 6ft as a fence? Bamboo in pots would work for a smaller area - nearer the house?

I don't know the height limits for a sail type "sunshade" but people who are overlooked often comment they've found they give privacy when needed.

Google shade sails.

A sail shade is a good idea. I don't see how screening will stop them looking at your garden from the upstairs windows.

Is there no fence at all at the bottom of your garden?

A trough with quick growing bamboo or similar fast growing plant would be better.

Or just wave at them and blow kisses when they stare at you?

Was going to say the same, sunshade sail, wouldn't be too expensive and you can take when you move.

@HateNosyNeighbours

Okay, if not plastic, what then? The bamboo screening isn’t tall enough. Would I be able to affix it to the canes somehow? I need at least 10ft high coverage.

@nearlyspringyay okay. What will then? 😆

Bear in mind you need to stick the bamboo canes in the ground, you won’t get 10ft of height.

Have you no fence at all to affix trellis/bamboo screening to?

I thought you needed planning permission for fences/similar more than 6' high?

At our last house we had a similar issue with one set of neighbours at the rear (our garden was wide and backed into four other gardens), but when we tried doing something like this, albeit with bamboo screening, they threatened to report us to planning. We gave up and sold the house shortly after as I couldn't stand the intrusion 🙄

Bamboo in big bell pots. If you invest in two good sized ones now and then around February next year taken them out of their pots and physically saw the root ball in half. Repot. You then have four bamboo plants for screening.
You can do this every year if you wish. The ones in my back garden are at least 8ft now and I divided one the other week to put somewhere else.

Just don’t put them in the ground or in ceramic pots.

If it's a back garden, aren't you limited to a 2m high perimeter fence / trellis / the like?

Look at a sunshade, a large umbrella or a gazebo perhaps.

We bought this for the spring/summer months.
Once you are inside you feel very private.
www.argos.co.uk/product/3047369?clickSR=slp:term:gazebo:7:26:1

Thanks for suggestions!

We have a brick wall, so not sure how to attach the bamboo or a trellis to it. Our neighbours on the other end have massive 12ft hedges and palm trees for privacy, so not sure why I can’t have something similar without breaking planning permission rules or whatever they are.

Will look at sail shades. The problem is that we do sports in our garden so we’re not in one place.

@LaraDeSalle have tried the waving. They’re shameless and wave back.😌

Hedges and palm trees are not the same as fences and walls. They grow rather than being built.

Is the wall six foot? You can still attach trellis to it if it's your wall. Trellis doesn't count either as it's not solid. Get someone in to do it if you can't do it yourselves.

Juts screw the trellis into the wall? Add some wooden baton (posts) perhaps.

Walls, fences etc, including trellises, need planning permission if over 2m high (1m if next to a highway). Trees and hedges do not count as development and are therefore no subject to planning permission.

I don’t understand how screening will give you privacy from them looking out their bedroom windows? Is it a bungalow?

Try some naked antics in the garden. They might stop peering then.

You’ll need planning permission.
A tree or hedge can be taller, but not any sort of structure.
You can’t put trellis on top of anything that is the maximum height either. Anything that grows has to be self-supporting.

How about a cricket screen? You can move it about if they change rooms.

Or just ignore them.

I'm in the same boat, our neighbours on the left and end have higher gardens and I often catch them watching us whilst we're inside.

Haven't found a solution but I'm looking at freestanding trellis planters with bamboo to go in it at the moment. I'll follow this thread in the hope more wonderful advice comes along.

Not that I haven't found the solution to the inside watching by the way, it also happens when I'm outside with my child. Suddenly cutting little tiny twigs becomes very important!

It’s annoying isn’t it @BFPDec21? Especially since I am running around with the kids. They keep curtain twitching and now the woman has her parents staying with her too indefinitely, so 8 of them to watch us 🤦‍♀️.

Anyway, does anyone think these are good? They’re bamboo planters. Does this mean they already come with the 12 ft bamboo?
www.meadowfarmplantsdirect.co.uk/product/extra-large-bamboo-planters/
They’re £100 for one trough though, I’m thinking of getting 3. Will it be a good investment?