Easy ways to fix a crap fence?

[RuffleCrow]

Hello, i'm a not very strong single woman with a fence that's rapidly falling apart. The posts are at a 30 degree angle. It's about 5 feet long. The ground is crap - about 5 inches of soil and then compacted rubble so hard to dig. The horizontal planks in the fence are basically just rotting and falling away.

I was thinking one solution would be to put up some of that green garden wire as a panel (but how?) Then plant privet hedges for privacy so as the fence rots, the hedge will grow (but no garden centres are open even online? Where are you all buying your garden stuff from?!)

Thanks

If you can afford it, get a man in. Surely fencers could work now as (a) they can socially distance, even for estimates & viewing samples - he could hold up samples outside, & you could be in the house looking at them through a window, communicating by phone, & (b) this is a matter of personal security/house repair.

Look online at fencing companies' websites for ideas, phone up someone local for a quote & more ideas on what's practicable.

Thanks. Last quote i got before lockdown was ££££ though

The poshest thing in my garden is a beech hedge. Not spikey enough to be painful to prune and very attractive. Changes colour through the year. The old leaves stay on a hedge until the new leaves come. I have privet too but that’s a bit of a thug of a plant. Beech trees drop their kernels everywhere so some plants shouldn’t be hard to find.

That sounds nice. Excuse my ignorance but how do you stop it turning into a row of massive beech trees? Are they just a different variety? Or is it a matter of pruning? We have some beech trees round here which are the tallest things for miles! And my garden is tiny.

Unfortunately it is the exact same variety so you will have to clip it once you have the size you want. Hand secateurs or a hedge trimmer. Ideally annually but if you were ill one year you could do more the next. You would have to clip privet too though. The fact you have poor soil will slow the plant down. The full height beech loses its leaves in autumn. The hedge being lower keeps its autumn leaves till spring.

Have you still got decent fence posts. I would dismantle the fence panels if you can and attach bamboo trellis to each post. You can but these online and some have realistic fake ivy attached to them. Wilko do it too and deliver.

If its just the horizontal planks that are rotting you might be able to attach trellis to the vertical end bits.

The posts are ok but one is at a 30 degree angle and i'm not sure how to fix that. I guess i was hoping the hedge would push it back up as it grew! Sorry to be a dummy but how would you attach the trellis to the posts? Hammer and nail?

Yes nails or wire ties. Are they wooden posts

The post that is leaning - as a temporary fix can you push it back upright and wedge some large stones in to the space at the bottom using a hammer? Whack them in hard and it should stabilise.

Sorry to be a dummy but how would you attach the trellis to the posts? Hammer and nail .....You're not a dummy, asking is sometimes the only way to find out. Screws fix things together , and hold in better, than nails. Plus, hammering would in this case cause more stress on the structure than screwing would.

That's great. Thanks so much for the tips. I'll have a look at Wilko.