Features of a wicker fence

A wicker fence is used both for enclosing the entire site, and for highlighting zones within it. Vine, willow branches, hazel, reeds are used as material. Choose long and flexible branches and intertwine them, placing them parallel to each other. As a support and a transverse base, thin posts are used, dug into the ground perpendicular to it.

A wicker fence has obvious advantages: environmental friendliness, ease of execution (weaving is available to anyone, just a little practice and weaving a small square, which can then be used as an internal partition or mat), decorative properties, availability of material and its cheapness.

It is worth listing the disadvantages of a wicker fence made of vines: unreliability, inability to serve as a full-fledged fence, short service life, difficulty in replacing damaged areas, lack of fire safety. However, wicker fences are quite common in landscape design.

There are several varieties of wicker fences. They vary in height from 20-50 cm for fencing flower beds, up to 100-200 cm for erecting around a house with a plot.

In the direction of the rods, the fences are horizontal and vertical. In the latter case, the rods stuck into the ground can even take root, then a green fence will appear.

Wicker fence material

Weaving a fence will be much easier from a flexible rod. It can be willow, vine, reed, the main thing is the elasticity of the material. Any willow will do. It is better to harvest it in the off-season, but if necessary, you can do it in the summer. It is better to follow him to places of high humidity.

The rod should be straight, without unnecessary branches. It should not show visible signs of disease. To save time later on fitting the vine to size, you can use a measure when cutting it from a tree.

For vertical supports, thicker and more inflexible branches with a diameter of at least 4 cm are needed. Pine branches are suitable for this. The length of the supports should be 50 cm more than the height of the future fence. It is on these 50 cm that the supports will be dug into the ground.

If you decide to make a fence of reeds, you need to collect it from swamps or lakes. It has a panicle-like top, not a brown cone. Inside the stalk of the reed should not be hollow. It is the pulp with which it is filled that gives it the necessary elasticity.

Cut the vine with a sharp knife obliquely. The cut rod must be properly stored so that it dries out. You can lay it out in one layer in a well-ventilated area or at least under a canopy. You can not lay out the reed, but tie it in bunches and hang it to dry.

Immediately before weaving, the dried material is steamed to restore its flexibility. Steaming is an express method. But you can do it differently. A couple of weeks before the construction of the fence, put the handles into the water by 30-40 cm.

It is impossible not to mention such material as a polymer vine. It is sold in shops and construction or garden markets. This is a flexible tube with a rough surface that imitates a natural rod. It is very convenient to use, since it was originally given all the properties necessary for weaving: flexibility, optimal length.

A fence made of polymer vines is more even. He is not afraid of moisture and fire. Although, the artificiality of the material is noticeable, and a special flavor is lost, which only natural material can give the hedge.

Weaving technology

To make a fence from a vine with your own hands, in addition to the vine and supports, you will need wire, a hammer, a shovel, sand, several metal posts, a pruner, and an ax to do the work.

First of all, you need to mark up for the future fence, defining its boundaries. Dig metal posts in the corners and pull a string on them 10-15 cm from the ground. Get an even polygon. Dig a trench 30-50 cm deep and 20 cm wide along the towline. Pour sand into the trench. This is a drainage that will not allow the supporting branches to rot quickly.

Dig support branches into the backfilled trench in increments of 50 cm. The digging depth is 30-40 cm. Sharpen their lower end with an ax before digging in. Then they can not be dug in, but beaten with a hammer. Wetting the ends in an antiseptic composition can significantly slow down their decay.

Compact the sand well so that the supports hold tightly. It is possible to install several metal supports among the wooden supports to increase the rigidity of the structure.

Peel off the bark from the rods. To lighten them, they can be treated with hydrogen peroxide, to give a darker shade — stain, to give a resemblance to mahogany — potassium permanganate, for a gray-brown hue — iron sulfate.

You can fix the vine between the supports in different ways: tightly or with a gap, one at a time or in pairs, in triplets in a checkerboard pattern. If at a distance of 50 cm from the ground all the supports are girded with a transverse vine, and then the girdling is repeated 50 cm higher, the remaining rods can be placed not horizontally, but vertically. Now it remains to cut the rods in the upper part evenly with a pruner. To do this, pull the string again. Put a border along the top edge of the fence.

If weaving is traditional — horizontal, you need to start it from the bottom. Carefully mask the edges of each vine, connecting them with wire. With dense weaving, tap each new row with a hammer so that the gaps disappear.

Firmly fix the edges of the rods of the uppermost row with wire, masking it. You can fix the rod with screws to the supports. The finished fence can be covered with the same stain or spray paint. Antiseptic treatment will not interfere either.

How to decorate a fence

The photo of the vine fence shows that they are trying to decorate it, to make it more alive. To do this, you can make some supports a little higher and hang clay jars on them.

You can add a special flavor if you plant decorative or ordinary sunflowers along the hedge, dig in a bench, put a cartwheel next to it, the cart itself or a trough with pumpkins. Hang a planter with ampelous plants on the fence.

Now you know how to make a vine fence, and you can do it yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHoR8R08bkc

Photo of a fence made of vines