It's been a bit windy lately hasn't it, with the storm Barney throwing high winds at many parts of the UK which if the forecasters are correct is likely to continue for a few days yet. I've blown across the car park after work a few times this week, so when Kent Blaxill about this post, it made me think how much our fences, decking and wooden garden furniture go through at this time of year.

There are things we can do of course to help protect them. We have a large green tarpaulin which we throw over our patio furniture, tying it to the legs of the furniture to ensure it stays in place. All we need to do over the winter is to check those knots are still secure, or otherwise I fear we'd find it at least a few gardens down. Not with the garden furniture still attached.

We haven't had any damage to our fence in the winds thankfully, although it took a few days before I got a chance to get out into the garden in daylight to check. But I remember the shock in the last storm when we experienced damage. There was however, a feeling of space in the garden!

For fences and decking there's things we can do there too. Usually when we put our garden "to bed" for the year we check our fences so if nothing else we know they're in good condition. It's a good idea to check to see if there are branches close by which could damage the fence and to see if any of the panels are becoming more delicate, as these are more likely to encounter any damage. Checking the posts are still sturdy is also worth doing.

I don't think you can beat the look of a new fence, the photos above are of our completed fencing shortly after it was replaced last year. It doesn't look anywhere near as new now though and we could treat it to protect it and give it a boost.

This time of year is a good time to treat fences, the plants are dying back which makes it easier to get close to the fence. Something like Sadolin Superdec would, I think work well. It has an opaque finish, is available in neutral colours and provides up to eight years of protection, which all sounds great.

Do you give your fences a yearly health check?

This is a collaborative post with Kent Blaxill, but all words and opinions are my own.