Question
hello and thanks for taking this question: I have a small patio in the back of my town house here in No. Virginia. It has some eye sores that we would like to mask. We bought a piece of wrought iron fencing about 3" wide and 4" high to place in the soil to obscure what we consider to be unaesthetic (pipes, hoses, air conditioner) The piece of  fence is quite heavy with some spikes on the bottom about 3" long that we will put in the soil. I do not think this will be solid enough to keep it in place. Do you have some additional way I can make it stay in the soil more solidly?

Answer
Hello Carl
In a case of this kind I would recommend using a concrete base in which the spikes can then slide. Use some hollow metal poles with the correct diameter and set them in a small amount of concrete (a footing) and set them below the soil's surface. These will be rigid and the spikes can just slide into the poles and then be covered with soil- holding the fence upright and strong.

Thanks for any bonus points in advance

Regards

Jonathan Radford www.jonathanradfordgardens.com