How best to block off this gate?

[gvdv]

I have a 6ft metal garden gate at the side of my house, similar to the one in the picture but without the spiky parts.

It has a keylock on it so is fairly secure. However there are a couple of issues with it:

My friend often visits me with her small dog, and I also dogsit for her. We like to let him out in the garden as I have a large garden which is perfect for him however he can get through the gaps in the gate (which are wider than those at the bottom of the gate in the picture, my gate is the same top and bottom) and escape onto the street, so it means we have to keep him on a lead in the garden which isn't ideal.

The second issue is that people have started to approach the gate, treating it like a door to my property. The other day I found someone standing right next to it looking in, which felt intrusive and I also had someone else knock at my door who said 'I see you have a bike in your garden, are you selling it?' (the only way they could have seen this was looking through the gate) I didn't know either of these people from Adam, and it made me feel quite uncomfortable.

I can't really replace the gate for various reasons, so what I want to do is block it off the gaps somehow. Has anyone done this or know how I can, ideally with something lightweight - I tried looking online but could only find people attaching slats of wood which looked way beyond my DIY skills. I feel like I want basically a sheet of something weatherproof that I can attach to the gate with cable ties, to keep the dog in and prying eyes out.

Has anyone done anything like this or have any ideas please?

Some willow screening?

We have done this with a large sheet of plywood (i think!) painted with outdoor paint to weatherproof it and secured to the gate. Its full-height, easy to cut to size and stops anyone looking in unless they deliberately stop to peer in the gap between gate and wall!

That bamboo stuff on a roll that people have on balconies for privacy would probably work quite well and be easy to attach.

we dealt with the dog issue with chicken wire.

perhaps try bamboo screening - you can buy it in rolls from most garden centres

Get a builder to brick it up?

You could cable tie some willow screening around it. Or that expanding trellis with fake ivy stuck to it.

Is plywood weatherproof? That was one thing that concerned me about using wood. I can paint it with exterior paint I suppose if that would protect it?

I don't really like willow screening plus I think the dog may chew at it! I'd prefer something more one piece ideally.

I should have said I don't want to brick it up as it's useful access to the garden, avoids me having to take my garden rubbish through the house etc.

Get a wooden solid gate. Will cost more but all problems solved! Plywood isn’t ok in the rain.

I’d get a fence panel or similar put in there.

Ideas here OP.
www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=garden+screening&crid=2P4AQ97NN48EJ&sprefix=garden+screen%2Caps%2C67&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_13

Oh, if you want to use the gate for access you need to replace the gate with a solid one.

I'll be honest I haven't really got the budget to pay for a new wooden gate and lock, plus fitting, I'm not able to do something like that myself (Cable tieing something to a gate is about my limit).

I might have to make do with the willow screening for now until I can find a better solution.

We have chicken wire at the bottom but f ours

Chicken wire.

Chicken wire will stop the dog escaping, but it won't stop people peering in.

Chicken wire at the bottom and a shower curtain. shower curtain

Bamboo would look nice though.

Or a garden screen it's got pre drilled holes.

I think willow screening is your best, short term solution. You need to decide how much you don't like it? Is it better than having people looking through your gate, into your private property? For me it would be.

I had the same problem in my old house,
I attached a sheet of black garden fabric, I think it was left over weed membrane, we just had it in the shed and it seemed pretty tough, but I imagine you could use any kind of tough fabric.
I used a hole punch to make holes and used cable ties to attach it,
I then added a layer of chicken wire over the top to give it more security and to stop the fabric blowing around.

It took me an hour or so and only cost me £10 for the chicken wire and it lasted for years, it was still up when we moved.

I think we had some weed membrane left in our shed. Not sure if I chucked it but if not that would be a great solution even if only temporary - thanks for the idea!