Hi,

I am currently doing up my garden and it's a bit of a project. I have a pretty pathetic excuse for a fence separating my garden from my neighbours on the right and altho I get on with them , I would like something a bit more...

My husband, last year, cut down 9 Leylandi trees on the right and we currently have just the stumps left. A quote to remove the stumps and roots has come in pretty pricey, so we decided to just cut them as low as poss and maybe utilise a couple by nailing some rustic wood between two to make a bench for the children.

However, I had a guy round tonight to quote me to erect a 6' fence down the right hand side of the garden. Upon inspection he has told me that he thinks it will be very difficult to put in the posts due to the roots from the trees and that we should try to remove the roots... which we wanted to avoid doing, argghhhh!

So I'm wondering, would it be best to have some kind of hedge instead of a wooden fence (we have a hedge on the left)? And this leads me to some more questions:

Which type of hedge is best for boundaries?
How long would it take to establish and grow?
How easy is it to plant/grow?
Should I get permission from my neighbours as they will have to trim the thing back on their side?

Sorry for the massive essay, any replies will be greatly appreciated, I'm new to all of this (gardening, not forum posts!)

Cheryl.