Well that's one way i guess !

The other would be to get some thin pieces of wood and nail them to the lower 6" of panel, or, think about placing a willow type of panel infront of that existing old one so that when it gives up the ghost (which sounds like sooner rather than later) you'll have something inplace already.
Plant a bushy shrub infront of that willow panel too, to give the area a more matured feel.

You can try and nail the slats back. Total privacy can only be done by adding more vertical slats. 6ft ones cost £1-2 in builders yards.

You can also by hedging plants by the metre online...Leylandlii is cheap.

Leylandii also need keeping well pruned :-)

Something which 99% of people don't do which is a great, great shame because a well tended Leylandii is probably the best tree for the wild birds.

OkKLouise as long as one has 'grounds'. OH saw one at Wisley like space rocket, ready to go. He got home and out came the saw.....chop chop. A bit of Wilkinsons woven stuff.....el cheapo might do the trick as suggested higher up. There's a Camellia in front of our gap. Hot weather does it not knackered fence.....rest of ours in good order.

Agree Louise the birds love living in our, kept at 6 foot, Leylandii hedge. Proof, if needed, is that we have masses of bird families visiting the feeders including sparrows, siskins, great tits, blue tits. The blackbirds nest in it every year.

Yup, i rest my case !
They really are invaluable - but ..... that regular maintenance is critical, isn't it.

I wish i had one but i can at least enjoy 2 that are a distance away, in a neighbours garden.

I have powerful binoculars and i can zoom in on the branches and see most everything that's going on in there ..... Thursday morning a Great Spotted Woodpecker was on the very uppermost branch surveying the area !!!

Wow wonderful Louise we occasionally get a woodpecker visiting the garden... and, thankfully, the troll has been banished!

Yep, no trolls here. :-) I had a laugh, but the language, especially on the question asked (now deleted) was quite 'unnecessary'. I wonder how many people flagged him?

I flagged him and also sent an e-mail to the boys...

I emailed too. Account deleted now I hope. Looks like it.

Thankfully... we really don't need folk like that.

I moderate another website and it gets at least one spammer most days for me to delete. This site is amazingly free of spam and trolls - I can't imagine how "the boys" can have set it up so there isn't more. Just think of the offers we could get...... no, on second thoughts, don't. ;-)

I thought about it, due to the S word, and tone. When I looked again it had gone. I liked the friendly 'lady' and she went too.

By friendly "lady" do you mean the one months ago who was chatting us all up? Only 2 spammers in several months is a triumph! :-)

How come I miss all the fun???

Not sure I would have called this particular troll's posts 'fun'

I flagged all his comments ... was quite taken aback to read them ... pleased his account is now deleted.

I hadn't even noticed there'd been any more by him.

I don't pander to the trolls, i laugh so that it makes their fun redundant - their fun is to shock and get a alarmed reaction, well, they'll not get it from me - they can go and play somewhere else !

He posted offensive comments as replies to other members questions Louise...

I don't understand what's going on here. Did someone respond to my question with some bad language? I'm confused.

I think I might just cover the fence with that bamboo on a roll stuff before planting shrubs in front. Or maybe some fancy trellis or something like that.

Thanks all.

The first reply to your question, Jan65, was impractical and used unnecessary "language". It's been deleted from the website, and so has its author.

I tried some of that bamboo on a roll stuff and wouldn't recommend it. It fell apart very quickly - the wire that's supposed to hold it together rusted through in a matter of months allowing the bits to blow away. Not a good look....

Thanks for the advice Beattie, I'll look for an alternative.

I have no idea why someone would answer my question with unnecessary language - what gets into some people? Was my question ambiguous in some way? When I posted it I actually thought I'd done something wrong because when I'd posted, I couldn't see the question and thought it hadn't been posted. So this morning when I logged onto my email I was suprised to see lots of notifcations of replies, and when I read what I thought was the first reply, I didn't understand it! Then it dawned on me that something must have been deleted. I don't know why I couldn't see the posted question originally. Perhaps the site has changed the way it works since I last posted a question.

Your question was fine, going on websites to try to stir up indignation and trouble is called "trolling" - it's done by "trolls" - which tells you all you need to know about their mentality. Some people get their amusement the weirdest ways! Don't worry about it.... lots of people pointed it out to the website management ("flagged" it) and it was all deleted.

Sorry I don't know why you couldn't see your question or the answers yesterday, but at least you've found it now. :-)

Perhaps just as well you did not see until after the first answer had been deleted...

Thanks Beattie, I've never heard of trolling before, and yes Moon grower, it's probably best that I didn't see it, it would have probably upset me to be honest. Thank goodness it was deleted.

As for my original question, I'm now on the hunt for some other suitable screening method. Thank you.

It upset me Jan. So I am sure it would have distressed you. Every now and again there is a little frisom over something on GoY, like posting with too much wine on board later in the evening, and upsetting someone. Usually everyone is very polite.