Putting that fence to good use...

hubert cumberdale wrote:
stone fruits like peaches and nectarines are best trained as a fan shape in espalier. they are a lot of work to keep up with though as far asp pruning goes. so if you go that route. expect to be out there a lot each winter and summer to keep them in shape.

New problem; my dogs think it's a delicacy, they now both have donkey poo breaths. Charming!  grin

saskia wrote:
(questions in red)

Now I have 125m of rigid fencing next to a quiet country road sitting there doing nothing except growing weeds (sown by birds who sit and shit on the posts) and brambles that are hard to get rid of.

Your neighbour's donkeys may be able to help with this. Donkeys have a more goatlike diet than horses especially in winter when grass is scarce and will eat brambles and scrub when hungry so they might suppress the brambles before you start planting (but move them on before you plant your fruit trees) . Running tethers perhaps?  I'm assuming you currently don't have anything valuable they might trample or eat right next to the fence.

I wanted to sow white clover on top of the hay but am not sure if this will work. I need some kind of ground cover that can stay in place by the time the hay is gone, either a nitrogen fixer or something edible with flowers for bees, and that I can remove locally or slash down when I need room for other plants. Suggestions?

I think this might turn rather messy. If there are lots of lush weeds and brambles, soil nitrogen is probably already quite high. I don't think clover would be happy growing on fresh manure, cardboard and mouldy hay mulch on top of decaying weeds. It's a grassland plant that likes low nitrogen.

I also wanted to plant broad beans pretty much immediately for winter cover & extra Nitrogen in little holes in the cardboard, and fruit trees and bushes in November- December. But will the manure not burn the plants?

Give time for the weeds to  die before you make too many holes in the mulch. I would put most energy into the trees and shrubs as they are most likely to succeed.  Maybe wild strawberries for ground cover? Transplants will do better than seeds  in such a sheet mulch system I think. Best to compost the manure if you can. You can sometimes get away with a light top dressing of fresh donkey manure, but too much will scorch plants.

Brenda Groth wrote:
my garden has a fence around it and some arbors, I'm growing 8 varieties of raspberry, blackberries, morning glories (annual), melons, squash, cucumbers, kiwi, grapes, cl roses, clematis, currants etc ON the fence and using it to provide a windbreak to my garden..there are some areas that the fence protects things like wild plums, hazelnuts, blueberries, juneberries, serviceberries, gooseberries, honeyberries, etc.