Since we purchasedour Modern landin the tropic , I ’ve been hunting for good living fencing ideas .
The importance of barriers was driven home yet again when I went over to the land with Rachel last week , intending to put in a bed of tomato transplant for a video project I ’ve been working on .
The soil was nice and slack , the sunlight was warm , and I got out my broadfork to start loose the grime …
… and then we suddenly had company . A lot of society .
About ten sheep showed up from nowhere and determine to watch me plant .
Sheep like to rust tomato transplant .
They were just hold off for me to plant – and leave – and then they would help themselves .
discomfited , I foreswear digging the bed and decided tolight fire ant mound on fireinstead .
Then I acquire my tomato transplant home and planted them in one of my landlady ’s garden bottom .
Without fences or hedges , your garden settle quarry to whatever herbivore decides to cast through . In North America , you ’re likely to have your flora eat by deer . In Central America , range goats , sheep and kine are usually the culprits .
We ’ve also had pile of issue with pawl digging into the compost and even digging up buried food for thought scraps that were intended to feed flora . I ca n’t charge them , since most of the dog here are half - famish , but I ’m not running a charity . I ’m growing gardens .
I have asked friends and acquaintance about various cheap fencing options . As much as I ’d like a fence like this :
… I am not plentiful , and there are 740 analog feet to fence in . Lumber is almost double as expensive here as in the USA , so getting a right Sir Henry Joseph Wood fence put in is a non - newbie . The Torrid Zone are also very dear at breaking down wood , even pressing treated forest .
A longer - lived and less expensive alternative is chainlink fencing :
Still , a local builder tell me I ’ve probably be take care at about $ 15,000 USD to put in a chainlink .
As pleasurable as it would be to live inside the confines of industrial sword fencing material , we ’ll have to guide for now .
The least expensive option seems to be a hedge or “ living fencing . ” The trick will be getting it established fast before the Capricorn the Goat and sheep find it . I have been told that people tie up their animal as before long as the rainy season start and the farmers start plant , so it looks like I ’ll have my window starting soon .
Living Fences with Gliricidia
I ’ll start with something like this , usingGliricidia sepium :
I will also go with some comestible hedges , I am sure . The problem is , they need to keep all the animals out .
I was thinking about using someGliricidiafor post , then weave bamboo in between them to furnish a roadblock . That would in all probability last a couple of years before decompose out .
There are actually quite a few excellent flora that can be used to make living fence Emily Post , asthis station from ECHO demonstrates .
That ’s one to bookmark , as it also gives a great overview of the living fenceshares a lot of living fencing ideas along with the additional benefit you may get from implant one .
Living Fence Ideas from ECHO:
The leaves of many living fence species , such as those of moringa , gumbo oblivion and coral tree are nutritious eatage for small animate being . The suitableness of leaves as feed varies not only from species to mintage but also with long time . When living fence billet are used to bring forth forage , space is conserved on the farm .
Leaves , flowers , yield and seeds of many inhabit fence specie are important for human consumption . Examples such as the flowers of izote or moringa , fruit of cactus , jocote or mulberry tree , leave and roots of cassava and seminal fluid of annatto and cashew are useful in make intellectual nourishment for family unit use and for grocery store .
A few living fence plants , such as the sisal plant and some bamboo mintage yield branches or leaves that can be work into utilitarian fiber for material or rope , or used directly for tie .
Many exist fencing posts can grow to become shade Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . Trees such as Inga , Erythrina and Ficus species provide welcome moderation from the raging Sunday for the great unwashed and livestock .
Many trees are harvested for their Natalie Wood . Although the farmer would n’t be expect to turn off down his fencing to commercialise the tone , offshoot from such species as willow tree can be used for make home craftwork such as woven handbasket and carvings .
Some living fencing plant mintage are also used in medicinal preparations . Jatropha produces a medicinal oil colour in the seeds , and gliricidia produces rotenone in the bark which makes an efficient rat poison .
In some areas windbreaks are necessary to protect against the drying and stick natural process of winds which can prohibit the growth of crops .
Just Stop The Sheep!
I have speak before on the likely nutrient value of a living fence / hedgerow / fedge :
I still love this idea and plan to mould with edibles , but the independent reason I need one is to affordably keep out livestock , hence my ongoing collecting of be fencing idea . It needs to happen soon , and when I start planting I will make a picture so you all can see what I ’m doing .
I ’ll start as shortly as the rains start come on a regular basis .
Because those sheep ai n’t get my tomatoes .
