04-23-2008, 06:07 AM
Well, the cost differences will be huge depending on your choices. Chain link is probably one of the most expensive wire fences and kinda fussy about installation. Field fencing is cheaper but has larger holes in it and will let small pigs, cats, small dogs and chickens through it. Chain link is more visually "there" than field fencing.
You can grow vines on either one, although my neighbor has some new galvanized fencing and she says her plants die when they climb on it so it might be a several year wait until the galvanizing has oxidized enough that you will be able to use it as a plant and vine support.
For critter containment and intruder suppression a hedge won't keep out the critters but a thorny hedge might keep out other intruders. A fence backed up with a hedge does the best for keeping things where they are supposed to be as well as keeping it visually appealing.
For my backyard, the choices were field fencing with metal "T" posts since we have dirt to put them in and they were the least expensive and the least visually. The field fence wire we used worked pretty good until the smaller dog figured out she can push right through it. The young chickens also go through it so one of these days I plan on running about two feet high 1" mesh chicken wire around the bottom of the field fence. There's bushes, shrubs and vines around and over it so it is not overly noticeable.
I find white plastic field fences to be obnoxious, but that's just my personal opinion. White plastic after it has had time to gather some moss and used in a more urban or town setting is okay. Not great, merely okay.
You can grow vines on either one, although my neighbor has some new galvanized fencing and she says her plants die when they climb on it so it might be a several year wait until the galvanizing has oxidized enough that you will be able to use it as a plant and vine support.
For critter containment and intruder suppression a hedge won't keep out the critters but a thorny hedge might keep out other intruders. A fence backed up with a hedge does the best for keeping things where they are supposed to be as well as keeping it visually appealing.
For my backyard, the choices were field fencing with metal "T" posts since we have dirt to put them in and they were the least expensive and the least visually. The field fence wire we used worked pretty good until the smaller dog figured out she can push right through it. The young chickens also go through it so one of these days I plan on running about two feet high 1" mesh chicken wire around the bottom of the field fence. There's bushes, shrubs and vines around and over it so it is not overly noticeable.
I find white plastic field fences to be obnoxious, but that's just my personal opinion. White plastic after it has had time to gather some moss and used in a more urban or town setting is okay. Not great, merely okay.
Kurt Wilson