Here in Philly, we always fenced. It was not a way of keeping people,
dogs or raccoons (yes, raccoons, those lovers of corn but not
popcorn) out, but a way of saying, "This lot is in use."
I really loved it the year that we took down our fence (to replace it
with another) and stood around shouting, "Free at last. Free at
last," but fence it was, and fence it is with a chic sign too.
We always invite passersby in to walk around and invite the whole
neighborhood to our annual barbecue and other events and rarely have
any vandalism. When we do our neighbors usually rat out the evildoers.
We've been in this spot since 1976. The only fence controversy we
ever had was with one gardener (since moved back to the burbs) who
wanted a 15' high chain link fence to deter one guy who used to
snatch food and flowers. We explained that one of our gardeners who
had gone to the school that we replaced used to climb the 15 footer
in back of the garden (It came with the property and now supports our
solar array and lots of roses.) to get to the swimming pool that used
to be behind the garden; so the gulag look was not an effective
deterrent.
This probably doesn't help anyone, but whatever.
Libby
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