Hi Kay,

Firstly, thank you very much for your opinion.

"Kay" wrote in message
...
In article , CK
writes

there are some formulae for the distance over which the windbreak effect
acts - it's a very small number times the height of the hedge, so a 6ft
hedge might not give much windbreak except in its near vicinity

I have just tried to search for those formulae you had mentioned but since
searching. As the hedge will be on top of the slope (slope down to the
vegetable garden and carpark, the house and then the spilt garden), so with
the bank and the slope, the height will be 2 feet more just inside and then
more than another foot to the opposite boundary.

There are several reasons I have to consider before planting a high and
thick hedge:
1. Whether it will cast a heavy shadow on the primary road or not? As a
driver myself, I know the effect of suddenly thick shadow in a sunny day.
2. Whether we can manage to prune/trim the hedge ourselves or not? It is
mainly my hobby, not an investment. My husband enjoys eating the fresh
vegetables and fruits but I would not expect him to hire someone else twice
the year to do the job.
3. Our runner beans and pod beans got blown down while tomatoes were nealy
on their sides since we started growing vegetables. We need a windbreak but
would not want it to dry up the beds.


Leylandii are not low maintenance. Their advantage in growing fast has
the consequence that you have to prune them a lot once they have reached
the height you want.

Disadvantage of any conifer is that if you leave it for a year, and then
have to cut back beyond the green bit, they tend not to regrow from that
bit, so you have a permanently brown bit of hedge.

Yew makes a very nice hedge but is slow growing
Holly is OK in shade - not sure about dry shade, though. They are slow
to start but reasonably quick once they've been in a couple of years.

We got 2 gaints and loads of young holly in the spilt garden. Maybe we can
try to transplant some of them instead of clearing them.

from Aberystwyth, Wales

You're milder than we are, being over in the west. Having you seen any
evergreen hedges around you that you particularly like the look of?

Yes, as a town just next to the west coast, the weather of Aberystwyth is
milder than most part of the UK. However, it is the third year I moved in
the town, I am still learning from the neighbouring environment. It seems
that most of the neighbours use either leylandii or privet as hedge. One
got a mahonia in the mixed border. I got a 3L pot of mahonia and I am
wondering whether I can grow it as part of the hedge. I like the fragrant
winter flowers and the berries would be nice for wildlives.

With regards,
CK from Aberystwyth, Wales

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