Cheapest way to extend height of fencing, especially along neighbour's fence?

krlyr

Having noticed this weekend that we now have a few cows living in the fields behind the house, I want to make sure that our garden is secure enough to keep our two dogs in no matter what. Currently we've just been managing the situation with longlines and close supervision but I don't want the one-off squirrel causing them to hop over the fencing and end up shot for worrying livestock (not sure that'd happen since it's a fairly residential area, as opposed to loads of farmland, but not worth the risk when the law allows this to be done).

We will be fitting 6' fencing along the side that is ours to replace the existing stuff (4' panels with 1' trellis, and a bit rickety with a few broken planks), my first question is whether there is any way of getting away with the existing 5' fence posts (happy to have 5' panels with trellis on top) or is it going to be a case of ripping them up and replacing with taller ones? Fortunately our neighbours are builders and due to start extending their house in the near future so we could perhaps get them to quote us for this while they're going to have a lot of tools/materials on them already, but we've got so much to do in the house, we're trying to sort the garden as cheaply as possible.

The other question is what the best way of extending on the other side would be. Fortunately they have 6' fencing most of the way down the garden but the last 20' or so is only 4', definately low enough for the dogs to hop over if they wanted to. We don't particularly want to get in a situation where we're splitting costs to change their fencing or attaching anything to their fencing - we'd rather keep it straightforward and just put something up on our side even if it means we lose a few inches setting it back from the fence (their extension, a brick wall and our garage all run alogn the boundary so not too concerned about there being a boundary dispute in the future)
One idea I've had after looking at various garden design websites is planters with trellis behind them, with plants in them the dogs are unlikely to climb onto the planters, and the trellis can act at both a physical barrier and a visual deterrent if the plants block the view. The planters will hold the trellis in place so no need to attach anything to the fencing, and I'm not putting in a physical barrier that may cause future boundary issues. I'm not sure if it will look silly to have these lined up just in a 20' line along one side of the garden though - but I am intending to have a veggie patch somewhere down that end of the garden so could section it off as a specific veggie garden area which might help.
Just wondering if anyone else had any alternative ideas or could name the best place to get planters/trellis as cheaply as possible? Happy to do a bit of DIY, e.g. attaching regular trellis to plain planters if it makes it cheaper. Bearing in mind that I had suggested we just stick up 6' deer fencing to be sure, but OH wants something that looks nice rather than just going for the purely practical aspect.

poppysarah

Is there an inbetween barrier to stop the cows getting to your fence?

I'm not sure what the official line is but near my mums the farmer has fenced off about 1 m around the field with a stock proof wire fence. This means the cows can't barge into the fence and then dance in the gardens.

(It's crops now but the wire fence was left in place)

krlyr

There is (low) fencing and a line of trees between the field and the back of our gardens, so no cows knocking on our patio doors in the morning, but it's not substantial enough to stop my two getting in to that field if they were on the scent of a squirrel/rabbit, they could easily hop the 3' fencing with no real effort involved.
The cows seem to stay the other end of the field (it's a huge field and the end we're at it mostly long grasses etc) so I'm not too concerned about the cows tempting my dogs out, but the neighbour feeds birds so we have lots of squirrels etc. dancing along the top of the fence which winds one of mine up a lot so I'm concerned that if she was to dash off after one, the other dog would follow and then they'd get in trouble for darting around in the field with cows (even if they weren't necessarily bothering the cows). Or even aside from the cows, the exit to the field leads onto a road and one is so preydriven she wouldn't think twice about chasing a rabbit out infront of a car going 40mph - I don't want her death or that of a motorist/any passengers on my concience.
Managing it OK so far by either going out with them or in the odd moments they don't have our full attention, tethering them with a groundstake, but as the weather gets nicer, it would be nice to have the patio doors left open and not worry about nipping up to the loo without having the call the dogs back in and lock everything up again (the crafty madam knows how to open doors!), I'd feel much safer taking my eyes off them for a few minutes knowing the fencing was a lot more secure.

Lobsta

Could you just put some 6' trellis panels up in front of the fence? You could always do it along the whole length not just the short side if you wanted it all to match. If you really don't want to fix to their fence you could always put in some small fence posts to fix it to. We have had to replace both sides of fence in our garden (80' each side) and even though it cost a fortune I don't mind what the neighbours do/ fix to their side as long as it doesn't cause the fence to fall down.

krlyr

I was thinking that Lobsta, but I don't want it to look too "We've stuck trellis up randomly here to keep the dogs in but it serves no function!"-y, so I was thinking the planters would make the trellis look more functional/like it was there for another purpose. Though I guess I could just dig a flower bed in front and grow some climbing plants. Anyone have any suggestions for low maintenance climbing stuff that won't invade the neighbours overnight/won't damage their fencing?

Lobsta

We have started growing Honeysuckle or you could try clematis or jasmine.