Under the Choko Tree By Nevin Sweeney

Fence Gardening

There are a whole stack of reasons why growing your veggies vertically is good idea -

  • Maximise use of horizontal space
  • Cultivate less ground, less time weeding etc
  • Create shady areas
  • Improve water efficiency – water at the bottom
  • Increase the light and air getting to leaves
  • Ease of monitoring & controlling pests & diseases
  • Increased yields
  • Improved access to produce
  • Cleaner produce

And there are a number of ways that you can garden vertically such as the traditional trellis, making a pea or bean tepee or making a fence garden the way I did, that is to say, a garden that can be hung on a fence, wall, or other vertical structure.

The idea is to take a bag made from hessian or other woven, free draining material and fill it with growing medium, then give it an outer wire mesh coat for stability, cut some holes in it and fill them with plants, then hang it up on the vertical structure of your choice. There you have it, a fence garden!

1. Hessian is good because it allows exchange of air and moisture into and out of the growing medium, it may be possible to use a woven plastic bag of some description like a chook feed bag (of which we have a whole stack) but hessian seems to be the way to go, at least for the first ones. We got hold of some sand bags from our hardware shop that are made out of hessian, they are 36cm wide x 86cm long and have a string tie on one side which I removed, but more of that later...

The hessian sand bag we used

2. If you are going to use a commercial potting mix/growing medium it is worth getting the mid price range stuff, the el cheapo stuff is mostly rubbish and you won’t be happy with the results. So, assuming you’ve got some of the good stuff, pour it into your hessian bag until it is about two thirds full.

Putting in the potting mix

3. Lay the hessian bag down and then pat it out so that it is more like a pillow than a sausage and fold the top over. You need to secure the top flap to the body of the bag and there are two ways (that I have tried anyway, there may be more) of securing it. One is to get a bag sowing needle, see the photo, and thread it with the string from the side of the bag, or get some string from elsewhere and sow the top of the bag to the body. I used a simple running stitch, but then again I am not very technical in the sewing department. If you are totally non-technical as far as sewing is concerned then thread some cable ties through the free end of the bag, and then the bag itself, then cinch it up tight. Do this a few times and the top will be well secured.

Sacking Needle

4. Next lay out some wire mesh on a flat surface, this is to provide a bit of support to the whole thing so if it is a bit rusty or tacky looking (read “rustic”) don’t get too concerned. I used some old chook wire because I had it hanging around and because I figured the holes would be large enough to plant through. Lay the filled bag on top of it with the sewn flap uppermost, so that when you turn it back over you will have a clean surface to work on.

5. With the bag in place, cut the wire with side cutters so that you have sufficient overlap to completely cover the back of the bag, then fold the long sides over and secure them to each other with cable ties. Fold the ends over and secure them to the back with cable ties as well.

Wiring the bag

6. The whole shebang should pretty much look like a hessian pillow covered in chook wire and it is now ready to plant. Turn it over so that all the fixings are on the back and the front is a smooth surface to work on. Using a Stanley knife or similar cut a cross into the hessian through the holes in the chook wire where you want to plant, if the holes are not big enough, cut away some of the wire to make them bigger. Fold the hessian back from the holes and plant into the potting mix underneath, then water the living daylights out of the whole thing to make sure the plants bed in OK.

The finished article

7. Leave the set up horizontal for a week to allow the plants to recover from the shock of replanting, then hang it up on a fence or whatever and there you have it!

My intention is to have a northern wall of one of the sheds covered with these things, the idea being to fix some concrete reinforcing mesh (reo) to the wall of the shed and then hang the fence gardens off that. So far I have been unable to find the size of reo that I want for the price I want to pay, but I haven’t given up yet.

Plants that will do well this way are leafy vegetables like spinach and lettuce, herbs, and perhaps trailing vegetables like cucumber or cherry tomatoes, and I am definitely using this technique to grow strawberries!

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