Hello,

Apologies if this sort of thing has been posted before. I've looked at the
FAQ and can't see it.

I've been lurking for a while picking up tips, but this is more of a general
question about a situation.

My wife and I are thinking about putting in an offer on a great house, but
I'm a bit nervous of the huge garden at the back - 100 ft long west facing,
backing on to countryside etc. We've been looking for a large garden, and
on paper I think I'm up to this one, except that it has a large number (50+)
of mature leylandii along the north and south borders of the garden (on our
side of the fence) which means that the southern side of the garden doesn't
ever seem to get _any_ light.

So my questions are -

(1) For a new gardener is it foolhardy to think "Those trees are no problem
- we'll just dug 'em up!"?;

(2) How does one do that?!;

(3) is it expensive?; and

(4) overall should we be put off by the garden?


Thanks for your help, sorry if this gets asked a million times a month.

Ta

Ed.
--

Get rid of the Dandruff cure to reply.

of mature leylandii along the north and south borders of the garden (on our
side of the fence) which means that the southern side of the garden doesn't
ever seem to get _any_ light.

So my questions are -

(1) For a new gardener is it foolhardy to think "Those trees are no problem
- we'll just dug 'em up!"?;

Ed.

When we bought our house it had a similar row of mature leylandii on its north
border - much to the dislike of our neighbour on the other side of them. Don't
even try digging them up - major work. Much simpler to do as we did. Chop them
down to about 5 or 6 feet high. Saw off the remaining side branches and you have
one instant row of fence posts! The trees will die off naturally. A few may
attempt to put out the odd feeble side shoot from the trunk, but these are easily
pulled off and beyond the first year they give up and die completely.
I used the "free fence posts" to attach some chain link fencing (to keep our dogs
in) and planted some pyracanthus hedging between the stumps, which is doing nicely
and gradually over-running the chain link and hiding it. By the time stumps have
rotted naturally the hedge will be fully mature.
Our neighbour approves of the change of hedge too!
--
Drakanthus.


(Spam filter: Include the word VB anywhere in the subject line or emails
will never reach me.)

in article , Ednews at
wrote on 14/4/03 1:20 pm:

Hello,

Apologies if this sort of thing has been posted before. I've looked at the
FAQ and can't see it.

I've been lurking for a while picking up tips, but this is more of a general
question about a situation.

My wife and I are thinking about putting in an offer on a great house, but
I'm a bit nervous of the huge garden at the back - 100 ft long west facing,
backing on to countryside etc. We've been looking for a large garden, and
on paper I think I'm up to this one, except that it has a large number (50+)
of mature leylandii along the north and south borders of the garden (on our
side of the fence) which means that the southern side of the garden doesn't
ever seem to get _any_ light.

So my questions are -

(1) For a new gardener is it foolhardy to think "Those trees are no problem
- we'll just dug 'em up!"?;

(2) How does one do that?!;

(3) is it expensive?; and

Don't dig them up! First, live there for a while OR visit on a very windy
day and see if the trees are in fact doing a really essential job as a
shelter belt. While I loathe leylandii, I will certainly concede that in
certain situations such as a garden backing onto open countryside, they
might be a necessity.
If they aren't essential, either chop them right down, replacing them with
the hedge of your own choice, or defoliate them and use the trunks to sling
chain across at two levels and grow clematis and roses up and along.

(4) overall should we be put off by the garden?

Absolutely not. You can take it under your wing a bit at a time and if you
have to e.g. leave some grass only rough mown from time to time, you'll get
lots of wild flowers (known to some as weeds ;- ) and you can plant
naturalised daffs among it. Take one bed or border at a time and urg will,
I'm sure help you as much as it possibly can. Go for it!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

Ednews wrote in
. uk:

So my questions are -

(1) For a new gardener is it foolhardy to think "Those trees are no
problem - we'll just dug 'em up!"?;

Depends how much else you've got to do. I got someone in - it took half
a day and was no effort at all.

(2) How does one do that?!;

I got a man with a chainsaw to come and take all mine away. We'd just
moved in too, and had enough to do without wrestling with the leylandii
as well.

He left the stumps at ground level, which I covered in a layer of manure
and other mulch, and then just planted stuff round them. In theory I
should have got honey fungus and all sorts of awful things: in practice
they rotted away nicely and a year on my new borders were already
looking good.

Occasionally you would try to plunge a spade in and get a bone-jarring
'thump' as it hit root, but already after 3 years the wood was rotten
enough that this had mostly stopped happening.


(3) is it expensive?; and

Can't remember how much it cost, but it wasn't a vast sum given the
number of trees - couple of hundred quid I think? If you get someone
in, make sure you specify that whoever does it takes everything away
afterwards so you don't spend the next 3 years burning or shredding.

Mine were about 15-20 foot tall I think - if yours are much bigger, it
will cost more.


(4) overall should we be put off by the garden?

If the Leylandii are all that is wrong with it, go for it. Leylandii
are very easy to remove and replace, and don't regrow from roots.

Sacha's point about the windbreak is a good one though. I would have a
word with the neighbours, if you can catch them in. If the area is very
windy, they will know. If the hedges are there because the neighbours
are absolutely awful and the current inhabitants can't stand them, then
best find that out too.

Sound them out about removing/replacing the Leylandii too - no point
you cutting yours down, only to find that the people next door liked the
privacy, and promply plant their own.

Though if the current owners have put up Leylandii to screen off their
neighbours, don't assume you'll want to do the same thing. That's why
our huge Leylandii hedge was there, but we found the neighbours hidden
behind it were lovely people: they just hadn't hit it off with our
predecessors, who were very anti-child, anti-dog, and anti-cat.

Victoria

Victoria Clare scribbled:

predecessors, who were very anti-child, anti-dog, and anti-cat.

If only my neighbours were like that

Thanks to all for very helpful advice. We're off to see the house again
tomorrow and will be asking about the neighbours. Will let you know what we
decide! I certainly feel lots more confident about the whole thing.

Ta again!

Ed. Podestà

On Mon, 14 Apr 2003 16:15:52 +0100, Victoria Clare wrote:

Sound them [next door neighbours] out about removing/replacing the
Leylandii too - no point you cutting yours down, only to find that
the people next door liked the privacy, and promply plant their own.

Amen! saith the voice of experience.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

On 14/4/03 4:15 pm, in article
, "Victoria Clare"
wrote:

Ednews wrote in
. uk:

So my questions are -

(1) For a new gardener is it foolhardy to think "Those trees are no
problem - we'll just dug 'em up!"?;

Depends how much else you've got to do. I got someone in - it took half
a day and was no effort at all.

(2) How does one do that?!;

I got a man with a chainsaw to come and take all mine away. We'd just
moved in too, and had enough to do without wrestling with the leylandii
as well.

He left the stumps at ground level, which I covered in a layer of manure
and other mulch, and then just planted stuff round them. In theory I
should have got honey fungus and all sorts of awful things: in practice
they rotted away nicely and a year on my new borders were already
looking good.

Occasionally you would try to plunge a spade in and get a bone-jarring
'thump' as it hit root, but already after 3 years the wood was rotten
enough that this had mostly stopped happening.


(3) is it expensive?; and

Can't remember how much it cost, but it wasn't a vast sum given the
number of trees - couple of hundred quid I think? If you get someone
in, make sure you specify that whoever does it takes everything away
afterwards so you don't spend the next 3 years burning or shredding.

Mine were about 15-20 foot tall I think - if yours are much bigger, it
will cost more.


(4) overall should we be put off by the garden?

If the Leylandii are all that is wrong with it, go for it. Leylandii
are very easy to remove and replace, and don't regrow from roots.

Sacha's point about the windbreak is a good one though. I would have a
word with the neighbours, if you can catch them in. If the area is very
windy, they will know. If the hedges are there because the neighbours
are absolutely awful and the current inhabitants can't stand them, then
best find that out too.

Sound them out about removing/replacing the Leylandii too - no point
you cutting yours down, only to find that the people next door liked the
privacy, and promply plant their own.

Though if the current owners have put up Leylandii to screen off their
neighbours, don't assume you'll want to do the same thing. That's why
our huge Leylandii hedge was there, but we found the neighbours hidden
behind it were lovely people: they just hadn't hit it off with our
predecessors, who were very anti-child, anti-dog, and anti-cat.

Victoria

Daft question, but what's honey fungus? Should I do anything in particular
to avoid it?

Ed.

in article , Ednews at
wrote on 15/4/03 8:30 am:

snip
Daft question, but what's honey fungus? Should I do anything in particular
to avoid it?

First of all, nothing is a daft question when you're learning a new subject
or if you don't know the answer in an old one!
Honey fungus tends mainly to attack old and rotting wood but it spreads
itself around fairly generously and attacks other, healthier things too,
eventually. The fruiting bodies smell of honey, hence the name.
Because it likes rotting wood, some people prefer to use something called
Root Out when they cut trees down. A hole is bored in the remaining trunk,
filled with root out and covered with a bit of old tile or stone to keep
rain off. Eventually, the tree trunk will disappear but it does take time.
When I found honey fungus in a garden of mine, we felled everything diseased
and ground the stumps right down to nothing.
There was a product, the name of which I now forget, which you could spray
onto affected wood or pour into a shallow trench at its foot. I have a
feeling it's no longer made but if it is, someone here will remember the
name.
None of this should put you off your garden or felling the leylandii, if you
think that's a good idea, BTW!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk

On Tue, 15 Apr 2003 09:32:28 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

~in article , Ednews at
wrote on 15/4/03 8:30 am:
~
~snip
~ Daft question, but what's honey fungus? Should I do anything in particular
~ to avoid it?
~
~First of all, nothing is a daft question when you're learning a new subject
~or if you don't know the answer in an old one!
~Honey fungus tends mainly to attack old and rotting wood but it spreads
~itself around fairly generously and attacks other, healthier things too,
~eventually. The fruiting bodies smell of honey, hence the name.
~Because it likes rotting wood, some people prefer to use something called
~Root Out when they cut trees down. A hole is bored in the remaining trunk,
~filled with root out and covered with a bit of old tile or stone to keep
~rain off. Eventually, the tree trunk will disappear but it does take time.
~When I found honey fungus in a garden of mine, we felled everything diseased
~and ground the stumps right down to nothing.
~There was a product, the name of which I now forget, which you could spray
~onto affected wood or pour into a shallow trench at its foot. I have a
~feeling it's no longer made but if it is, someone here will remember the
~name.

Armillatox. Buy fast, cos you won't find it after July...
http://www.armillatox.co.uk/

~None of this should put you off your garden or felling the leylandii, if you
~think that's a good idea, BTW!
~--
~Sacha
~www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
~

--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove nospam from replies, thanks!

"Drakanthus" wrote in message
...

Chop them down to about 5 or 6 feet high. Saw off the remaining side
branches and you have
one instant row of fence posts! The trees will die off naturally. A few
may
attempt to put out the odd feeble side shoot from the trunk, but these are
easily
pulled off and beyond the first year they give up and die completely.
I used the "free fence posts" to attach some chain link fencing (to keep
our dogs
in) and planted some pyracanthus hedging between the stumps, which is
doing nicely
and gradually over-running the chain link and hiding it. By the time
stumps have
rotted naturally the hedge will be fully mature.

It would be interesting to see a picture of the result - I've got two
"leylandii" "hedges" that need constant trimming.

Peter.

It would be interesting to see a picture of the result - I've got two
"leylandii" "hedges" that need constant trimming.

Peter.


Email me your email address and I'll email you a photo. (Beware the spam trap).
--
Drakanthus.


(Spam filter: Include the word VB anywhere in the subject line or emails
will never reach me.)

On Tue, 15 Apr 2003 09:46:47 +0000 (UTC),
(jane) wrote:

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Sorry Jane, but this jaw droppingly insidious admonishment disturbed
me so much I couldn't let it go - no matter how hard I tried.

In my present frame of mind it's a red rag to a bull. Think about it!

Part with your illusions! When they are gone,
you will cease to live as a gullible ninny.

No respect to you Mark Twain

Hussein

Sorry urg lovelies but bull cannot desist from charging ... with
this quote :

"POWER AND LAW ARE not synonymous. In truth they are frequently in
opposition and irreconcilable. There is God's Law from which all
Equitable laws of man emerge and by which men must live if they are
not to die in oppression, chaos and despair. Divorced from God's
eternal and immutable Law, established before the founding of the
suns, man's power is evil no matter the noble words with which it is
employed or the motives urged when enforcing it. Men of good will,
mindful therefore of the Law laid down by God, will oppose governments
whose rule is by men, and if they wish to survive as a nation they
will destroy the government which attempts to adjudicate by the whim
of venal judges."--Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)"



Grow a little garden

spam block - for real addy, reverse letters of second level domain.

Grow a little garden

Thanks for the advice.

Have put in an offer on the house, just got to find a buyer who is
"proceedable", in the horrible language of the house market.

Will let you know how it goes.

Ed.

"Ednews" wrote in message
. uk...

Grow a little garden

Thanks for the advice.

Have put in an offer on the house, just got to find a buyer who is
"proceedable", in the horrible language of the house market.

Will let you know how it goes.

Ed.


Good luck with sale/purchase of the properties.

Don't forget to post an invitation to the house warming...;-)

Natalie