On 03/04/2013 17:29, plissken wrote:

Hi All,

Completely new to gardening and didn't in a million years think I would
be even considering taking it up but you never can tell where life will
take you. I've moved into a renovated house and it has a bit of land
around it. I've got a few questions on hedges and hoping for some
guidance.

I live in East Lothian (Scotland) on a particularly exposed piece of the
countryside. Southerly winds can be quite cutting and strong. I'd like
to plant some hedging for two main reasons. The first is for privacy.
My neighbors are farmers and I'm not keen on staring at their parked up
machinery. The second reason is that I'm wanting to get a few
polytunnels up and don't think they will be stable in the strong winds
without a hedge wind break. Couple of goals but not sure how compatible
they are with each other:

1. Needs to survive the climate. Can get cold and windy.
2. Would love ever green to keep cover and privacy.

Look around to see what they are using locally for stock proof hedging.

3. Low maintenance. There will be a lot of hedging.
4. Height limited. Two to three meters will be plenty.

Generally it is a contradiction in terms to want low maintenance fast
growing to some size hedging. You will always have to trim it at least
every couple of years (though you might get your farmer neighbour to
flail cut it with his tractor flail if you ask him nicely).

I think that's about all I can think of. Would appreciate any advice.
Thanks in advance.

My choice would be (actually is) something like beech, cotoneaster
pyracantha, lonicera nitida, privet and a few native species trees
interspersed. The odd wild rose, honeysuckle and holly have also
appeared in it. If I had been planting it myself I would probably have
put a few slow growing native trees into the original planting.

If the hedge will be very long consider having blocks of different
species about 3m the same. Some things do grow faster than others. In
general variagates and yellow forms are less vigorous and more fragile.

Holly would fit the bill but you might have to wait a decade or more for
it to reach the target size and density. Yew is out of the question if
you back onto a farm since it is very toxic to livestock. If it is
really wild then you could consider gorse but it might not grow to your
full height or tend to flop over too much in the wind.

Not a recommendation for them but this lot have a wide range of hedging
materials and pictures (getting a bit late now for bare root planting).

http://www.best4hedging.co.uk/

Minor snag I see with southerly winds and a polytunnel is you are going
to have a dark patch with no sun behind your wind blocking hedge.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown