Greening fences with ivy - advantages and disadvantages
Making an ivy fence yourself can make a lot of sense. Ivy has a few advantages:
- suitable for shady locations
- fast growing
- evergreen
- easy to maintain
also read
- Grow ivy yourself - this is how you propagate ivy yourself
- Diseases that can occur when keeping ivy
- Decorate a fence with plants
There are also some disadvantages to making a fence out of ivy:
- spreads quickly
- difficult to remove
- needs regular cutbacks
- Ivy is poisonous
Ivy is definitely a good choice in shady locations, as only a few hedge plants thrive in the shade. In addition, ivy is inexpensive or can be quickly propagated from vines.
Which fences are suitable as an ivy fence?
In order to climb up, ivy needs a surface on which the adherent roots find sufficient hold. The fence material must be sturdy, as ivy gets a lot of weight over time. In addition, the fence should not be too light, as the ivy tendrils only grow up on dark surfaces.
Dark wooden fences are well suited. But chain link fences can also be greened with ivy very well. You only have to pull the tendrils through the mesh at the beginning. Later the roots attach to the woody ivy shoots. You can throw long shoots over the fence and simply let them grow there.
Create an ivy fence
Making an ivy fence yourself is not difficult. All you need to do is put ivy on an existing fence.
The planting distance should be two to three plants per running meter.
You can plant ivy at any time; spring and autumn are particularly favorable.
How to properly maintain an ivy fence
Once ivy has grown properly, it hardly needs any maintenance. You only need to prune it back once or twice a year. In winter, the ivy should be watered occasionally.
Tips
If you use wire mesh (€ 14.99 on Amazon *) as fence material, you may need to re-tension the wires more often. The weight of the wire netting is easily pulled down too much.
