Beginner Gardening: Any suggestions for along my cyclone fence?, 1 by warriorswisdomkathy

warriorswisdomkathy wrote:
I have a few more suggestions. Vines are great and keep them in mind. First off, ammend the soil with peat, will help with retaining moisture once the plants are in. I buy it by the bale, at home depot are approx $12 for 3 cubic feet. I mix in every hole, believe me it will help. Once plants are in mulch, on the cheap I use grass clippings sometimes collected from the curb in neiborhoods on trash pickup day, some will even save for you if asked. I let them dry and spread. Now to the plants, I must admit I'm not so great on the plants you could grow since I am many zones further north but.....You will want trees that can grow fast: ie. Fruit trees (standard apples get approx25ft ish), crabtrees again 25ft.. There is a maple (ginella), blooms spring (fragrant), fast growth and only 20ft. Some shrubs if allowed to grow to full height could be in your range (ht.). Check wit your local extention office, listed in the white pages under county government for your county. Ask for plants that might fit your requirements. Then go shopping in catalogs if possible as barerooot trees and shrubs are much more cost effective than those from nurseries which are potted or balled and burlapped. Could even check with your local home depot or lowes as their prices for potted fruit trees and crabapples are very reasonable ($20-30 each). Like I say some of the taller shrubs might be great also so don't forget them. And yes they should help to filter out the dust, especially as they get older. So until your trees get bigger you can plant vines and flowers (even annuals) to help do some filtering. On the absolute cheap are sunflowers, the species can grow to 12-15ft. Might not be the prettiest but a few packs for $3 or $4. might help for this season, and then leave them up thru the winter. Hope that helps. Kathy.

pix is Daucus carota, Queen Anne's Lace, a biennial, at 6ft, blooms spring and I have plenty of seed if you would like some d-mail me, I also have bags full of cosmos seed too.