How to hide this fence with a climber?

[ShandyMay]

Hi. I would love some advice to hide this fence with a climber. I’m looking at suggestions of trellis and what climber to grow. As you can see there are metal fence posts/support that will create a gap between the fence and any trellis I add. The fence receives lots of sunlight. The fence slopes downwards a bit with the direction of the land. I live in Adelaide. The garden bed underneath is relatively narrow. I’d love the plant suggestions to be relatively low maintenance, this house may be a rental one day. I’m open to flowering or non flowering plants but I have young children and want the plants to be safe for them. I’m planning to put a dripper system underneath to water the climber and any other plants I grow in front of it if there’s room. Thank you so much to anyone who can help me.

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @ShandyMay. It's wonderful that you've joined us, and many thanks for your question about hiding your fence.

You might like to check out @royq's discussion on Training climbers to screen a fence. He uses wire attached to the fence to grow the vines up. You'll also find our range of trellis on the Bunnings site to select from. The trellis could be attached to the top horizontal metal section with Zenith 8G x 30mm Galvanised Countersunk Head Metal Screws.

Apart from the suggestions @Adam_W has made in this article, I'd recommend Star Jasmine, Mandevilla or Bougainvillea.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[BradN]

Hi @ShandyMay  

Whatever you decide to plant there, your plants will appreciate anything you do to improve the soil in that narrow bed first. You want your climbers to grow quickly so they'll need some nutrition in the soil.

One way to go about it is to mix some mushroom compost through the soil. This will add nutrients and also break up and aerate the soil so water can penetrate and your climbers can establish roots more easily. Once you've planted your climbers you can mulch with a lucerne mulch. This will keep weeds down and prevent the soil from drying out too much, and it will release more nutrients into the soil as it decomposes. 

It's a good time of year to be planting, so good luck!

Brad 

[EricL]

Hi @ShandyMay

It's great that you've received excellent advice from @BradN and @MitchellMc. My only other recommendation is to check out the links below to get your garden ready. It sounds like a fantastic project. Any updates you can provide while building it would be much appreciated. 

• How to choose the right soil for your plants by @Noelle
• How to determine soil health by @Noelle

If you need more advice or information, please let us know.

Eric

[mich1972]

Hi @ShandyMay  Chinese Star Jasmine is not only beautiful and fragrant but really tough and hardy too !!! Mitch has given some great advice. Gosh there are other climbers too but this one is a beauty 😊