Rod wrote:
On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 18:24:03 -0000, "CK" wrote:


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.

Escallonia macrantha or one of its cultivars should do OK for you.
Evergreen, don't mind salty winds, stands any kind or type of
clipping, not hard to trim, nice balsamy smell, pink flowers if you
don't cut it too hard.

Yes, I like escallonia too -- note that varieties come from Northern
Ireland, which has some pretty tough climates -- but they don't grow
tall, and they don't grow thick. It really is very hard to lay down
the law for other people, as in these islands the climate can vary
from one end of a village to another. Hell, from one end of your
garden to the other! What older-established neighbours do can be a
good guide; but they aren't always right. I'd always say use
something like Lawsonia only if you've got plenty of room, so that
their hungry roots won't matter (let's say six to ten feet from the
base), and if you've taken all the shade and aesthetic considerations
into account. If you want that kind of hedge, Thuja plicata is
infinitely better, as you can clip it as you like, and it will clothe
down to the ground: not a lot more expensive in money, and a hell of
a lot nicer to live with. I really wouldn't worry about shade on the
road: people have to drive sensibly, and if you produce a shady patch
under fifty yards long it's irrelevant unless it's also on an already
exceptionally dangerous bend.

On the whole, I'd say you could ignore any formula for wind-breaking.
The clue is in the word "breaking": you can never actually _stop_
wind. The thing to do is to break it up: let some trees absorb part
of the energy so that smaller plants down wind won't get hammered. If
you make a solid barrier, either of trees or a stone wall, the wind
will shoot up over the top, and come down the other side in the form
of turbulence. This roundy-roundy turbulence may be even worse than a
straight blast. Only experiment over a few years will tell you
exactly what your site needs.

Things to consider include the time of year when the wind is worst:
an evergreen barrier may not actually be relevant during the spring
and summer months when most of your plants will be growing. Deciduous
trees often look most natural in British conditions, and the winter
winds will be broken quite enough by their bare trunks and branches
to let your display of snowdrops, primroses, early daffodils or
whatever flourish: for my money, they'll look better, too.

Tomatoes and beans are not European species: you've got to expect to
give them extra protection. I've grown both outdoors in West Wales
(Carmarthenshire, not wind-blasted Pemrokeshire); tomatoes in the
open were a disaster, but runner beans, dwarf beans, and climbing
French beans were fine. A farmer neighbour did well enough with
tomatoes under the shelter of a little wall he built with stakes and
fertilizer bags; my good ones were an easier proposition in
containers against the south-facing wall of the house. Growbags were
a waste of time: instead, I cut five-gallon plastic drums in half and
put a plant in each. You can't buck the system: the Old Testament is
all about people arguing with God, while the New Testament is "Oh,
all right then: I don't know what on earth you're talking about, but
I'll do it anyhow". Gardening is a judicious mixture of the two,
inclining to the "Oh, all right, then, I'll do it your way: I suppose
you built the bloody place". Go with the system.

Mike.