I’ve recently taken possession of an allotment that’s right next to a road and overlooked through an ugly chain-link fence. What can I grow as a protective screen? I’m on a budget and can’t afford hedging plants.
The cheapest option is a grapevine from a supermarket or value store; they often have cheap five-litre pots. However, it’s never advisable to eat anything that’s been grown next to a road with heavy traffic: grapes, blackberries, raspberries and the like will get covered in heavy metal particulates, and also take up pollution from the soil.
So, instead, you may be better off growing a screen that will benefit wildlife, offer protection from the wind and give you something pretty to look at. Climbing nasturtiums, morning glory (Ipomoea) and black-eyed Susan (Thunbergia alata) are rampant, cheap and easy to grow from seed. A row of sunflowers would look equally good (plus you could leave the spent seedheads standing for the birds). If you don’t like that idea, a really rampant climber such as Clematis montana or the late-flowering Clematis terniflora, which does very well on a fence, would work, as would a rambling rose, a hop or a honeysuckle.
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