Looking for ideas and help...

[Transporter9033]

Hi there, My name is Adam and I live in eastern Indiana and I have a rather broad question.

I have a rather large yard right on the edge of city limits and recently my neighbor (on the county side) has decided to raise baby cows from birth to about 8 weeks old for a dairy farm. Anyhow, there are a whole bunch of these ugly overgrown 'dog houses'with baby cattle, all over the property on the other side of the street from me. I am tired of looking at them and want to put up some sort of natural privacy screen between us and I need some help. I need to cover about 200 feet in a straight line (the south line of my property) and I prefer not to go too wide with the screening. I was thinking of putting up a series of 8' vertical lattice work and having various vines grow on the lattice. I am just not sure exactly what will work and what will not as far as the plants go. I would like to incorporate several different types and colors of flowering and non flowering vines and prefer them not to be invasive or have problems crowding out other vines. Any help, further questions, or other ideas, would be greatly appreciated !

If this is not in the correct forrum, please feel free to move it for me.

Thanks,
Adam S.

 

[mr_yan]

Where abouts in the world are you? Knowing the growing climate will help greatly.

My thoughts are anything you can't eat is not worth growing.

Grapes?
Hops?
Scarlet Runner beans?
Bamboo?
Blueberry hedge?

 

[mr_yan]

Where abouts in the world are you?

Maybe I should have just read the first line of your post. Sorry

 

[Transporter9033]

It's no problem =) I do the same thing all the time. And to respond to your first post, I have a really large 'yard'. It is almost 2 acres and I already have several fruit trees, a grape arbor, about 40 sq ft of red raspberries, and a 25'x50' vegatable garden. The south part of my property I am wanting to start working on the "showy" type of gardening. I am in the process of designing a 16' diameter gazebo, and having a ~ 50'x100' water feature inspired by the Longwood Italian Water Gardens and the Villa Gamberaia in Italy, close by. This will all take time and quite a bit of $$ but I have to start somewhere.

Adam S.

 

[mr_yan]

I just looked at the Longwood Italian Water Gardens website and they listed english ivy as a noteworthy plant. What if you were to build a privacy fence or trellis type screen and train this up it? That will work as a green wall then you can place other and flowering plants in front of it to break up the look.

The other route that comes to mind is the tight and neat pruning of the hedges in Villa Gamberaia. You know the typical plants with this like box wood and privet or evergreen bushes.

 

[mr_yan]

Aside from the plants and sightlines I'd be over asking the neighbor what the price for a veal calf goes for and looking for a processor.

 

[Transporter9033]

Thank you for the reply! For some reason, I never thought about the English Ivy...Sometimes it just seems like you can't see the forest for all the trees. =) Maybe I'll combine the Ivy on trellises spaced out and the hedges in between them. It looks good in my head anyhow.

As far as the cattle goes, my wifes grandma & uncles raise them for slaughter so we get pretty good deals on meat.

When I finally get something done, I will post before and after pictures.

Adam S.