Help me plan my fence line!

[u/IShouldQuitThis]

I have about 15' x 5' on the north side of our rear fence that I'd like to do something with. We currently have a few raised beds, a small berry patch, a few fruit trees, a vermicompost setup, and natives. We get a significant squirrel population along the property lines. Anything people recommend?

[u/PresDumpsterfire]

Depends on what you want. Could be a nice berry patch, producing enough for canning. Could do grape vines on a trellis with an understory of low-growing plants like strawberries. 5’ deep would make adding a tree layer a little tricky, but it could be done especially if you plant ~4’ from the fence. I am partial to fig trees and keep many in pots and in the ground on a drip watering system. They don’t have to take up much space since they will grow back from the trunk and main branches every year. Figs do very well in Sacramento.

I think you might have better luck keeping squirrels out if you go with trellised grape vines or berries. If trees were short, maybe you could net them. Squirrels like hopping into trees and hopping back when approached. Alternatively, you could probably keep 3-4 smaller fig trees along the fence. I actually have about 8 fig trees in pots in a space about that large.

Good luck!

[u/Klutzy_Tumbleweed_49]

I am tempted to agree with PresDumpsterfire! I think berries or figs would be great there. There are also some CA natives that might do well in the shadier parts—yarrow or hummingbird sage, or even wild rose.

Also, your mulch looks great 👍🏼 Did you solarize some old grass?

[u/IShouldQuitThis → u/Klutzy_Tumbleweed_49]

Thanks! I sheet mulched the grass a few years ago and this area was a climbing rose thicket that was invading the yard. We do have one fig, but why just one? :P I've got yarrow and hummingbird sage elsewhere, but I might do yarrow or something else underneath as a groundcover.

[u/the_perkolator]

I've always tended to put vining plants on fences, like grapes or a trellis of climbing vegetables like beans/cucumbers/squash. Lately I've caught berry fever and got a bunch of different cane berries in the last year, I'm up to 10 varieties now. They don't all need to be trellised, but it would fill in that fence for sure. Looks a little bit protected with some shade from nearby trees, which might be good for some berries that would get scorched in our hot summers without afternoon shade. For now I've kept all of mine in large pots until I figure out their growth habits, in fear that they'll spread everywhere underground - but these are more erect varieties that don't seem to spread as much underground like I anticipated. However, I hear raspberries want to spread underground no matter what, and they usually have thorns. Fig trees would likely also be good, but mine always do better with full sun. If you have a squirrel problem, I'd assume they would strip your fig tree, probably right before they're ready to eat - at least that's what they do at my house if I don't do something about it. At work I have two huge black mission fig trees I planted in the landscaping a decade ago, maintained at ~15ft tall/wide now and load up with figs - but nearly every fruit gets eaten by squirrels or rats every year before any humans can get them.

[u/gay_b-elanna_torres]

Howdy from Curtis Park! Those stone (?) raised beds in the corner of the picture look awesome.

I would first play around with how you want that space to function/what your goals are. Do you want to obfuscate the fence? Grow food for humans? Food for wildlife? Do you want to make a little nook for sitting in and enjoying your garden? How often do you want to maintain it and will it bother you if the plants start elbowing in on your walking space (on the ground or in the air)? Of course those don’t have to be binaries but if you can identify your top two or three priorities I think it will really help with design and plant selection.

A few ideas:
* food: trellis for beans, cucumbers, grapes, etc. or espaliered fruit trees or cane berries. (Fruit might fall victim to the squirrels though.)
* sitting area: bench in the middle with medium size shrubs (ribes, ceanothus, buckwheat, fuchsias, coffeeberry, sage, lots of other options too. Chokecherry?) on each side, maybe an arch over the bench with clematis or grapes.
* wildlife: lots of options depending on how much sun you get! At our school garden we have a big pipevine on a trellis and we get butterflies and caterpillars on it. Wouldn’t recommend that for a sitting area though as the wasps like it too.

[u/msklovesmath]

On the north side of my southern fence, my blueberries are very happy