Garden Fence Made From Lawn Chairs

Garden Fence Made From Lawn Chairs FENCING Fencing 34-5-32 "I wanted a garden fence to keep out critters, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money. So I made a fence out of old aluminum lawn chairs that are easy to remove in sections to get into the garden," says Bernie Coulthurst, Amherst, Wis. He recently sent FARM SHOW photos of his 20 by 40-ft. "chair fence". "I get the chairs free from relatives or at local rummage sales," says Coulthurst. He uses a sawzall to cut the chairs apart and keeps just the U-shaped frames, which he covers with chicken wire. After hammering tent pegs into the open ends of the frames he sticks them into the ground, then uses wire ties to connect the frames together. "It isn't quite as pretty as a new commercial fence, but it cost almost nothing and it works," says Coulthurst. "I've used this idea for more than 10 years, and each year I add a few more frames to the fence. The chicken wire I use comes in rolls 24 in. wide, and if the chair frames are narrower than that, I simply splice them together. The frames can stand on their own, but I find that tying them together gives the entire wall more strength. I use short lengths of wire to attach the chicken wire to the frames. Every individual frame can be used as a gate. I just remove the ties and pull out the frame." Coulthurst says he came up with the idea because he always had a problem keeping critters, especially rabbits, out of his garden. "Every year they would eat my beets, cauliflower, cabbage, melons, etc. I could have put up a semi-permanent fence, but they're expensive and it would be difficult to pull out weeds from along the fence. I can pull out one frame at a time and pull out the weeds, and then put the frame back." Couthurst has another use for the frames. "In the fall, I put the frames around my carrot patch and add leaves about 2 ft. deep to keep the carrots from freezing. The leaves keep the ground from freezing, so whenever my wife needs fresh carrots during the winter I just go out and dig some up. The portable fence not only tells me where to dig, but also keeps the leaves from blowing around. The carrots that I dig up during the winter are sweet and juicy, much better than the ones in the store." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bernie Coulthurst, 4852 County Road K, Amherst, Wis. 54406 (ph 715 824-3245; bbccmc@wi-net.com).

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