Weaving a fence

Keeping the ducks in, May 2023

 The old roll of chicken wire which enclosed the duck yard was finally deemed beyond repair and chucked out;  I bought it many years ago and it had been disintegrating slowly but surely after the first few years.  Rather than spend money on another roll of wire, I spent time and effort instead and made myself a bit of free fencing.

I pruned my narrow-cane bamboo plant fairly hard this spring;  it's a clumping variety but still pretty fast growing and produces a lot of new canes every year.  I think it was about 10 cm tall when I first planted it, but now it's taller than me, and the clump was wider around than I can encircle with my arms--I pruned it back to about that width.

I then took the longest, thickest canes--between the thickness of a drinking straw and a pencil--and started weaving them in an open diamond shape weave fence.  To keep the structure secure I tied each place where two canes crossed each other.

To make the ties, I collected a bunch of too-small/holey black socks from my son, and cut them into little strips:  stretchy and durable.  I don't know how many I used, but each cane had around eight ties on it (but obviously each tie connects two canes).

To begin with, I worked the first meter or so of fence laid flat on the ground, as it need some length before it could support itself;  after this, I put it upright and wove the remainder in situ.  It took me several days of work, although I spread it over several weeks, mainly depending on the weather (this was in early spring).  I think it should last as long as the chicken wire did, and hey, it was free.

Last year's fennel regrowing, May 2023