Hi.

Will a laurel hedge be ok as a bordrfor my veg patch?

I cant find it now, but remember omeone telling me the leaves are
poisonous.

If this is right will it be safe for the veg?

In article ,
tina writes:
|
| Will a laurel hedge be ok as a bordrfor my veg patch?
|
| I cant find it now, but remember omeone telling me the leaves are
| poisonous.
|
| If this is right will it be safe for the veg?

Provided that none of your vegetables get out of their beds and start
munching on the hedge, yes. I can't promise anything if they do that!

More seriously, it isn't ideal, as it casts a VERY heavy shadow and
is a very greedy plant, so there will be afairly wide zone near it
where nothing else will grow well. I would plant something else;
how wide and high do you want the hedge, and it is on the south side?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , says...
Hi.

Will a laurel hedge be ok as a bordrfor my veg patch?

I cant find it now, but remember omeone telling me the leaves are
poisonous.

If this is right will it be safe for the veg?

Laurels are poisonous because they manufacture chemicals which generate
cyanide when the leaves are torn open. This should be a problem for your
veg unless you inadvertently add a bunch of laurel to your salad or something.
However a well grown hedge will not improve your ability to grow veg as it
will take water an nutrient from the soil and block out the light. Be prepared
to have a 2+ ft strip next to the hedge where the veg will not grow.

Gill M

On 28 Jan 2007 11:27:10 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:


More seriously, it isn't ideal, as it casts a VERY heavy shadow and
is a very greedy plant, so there will be afairly wide zone near it
where nothing else will grow well. I would plant something else;
how wide and high do you want the hedge, and it is on the south side?

Nick, Its a north (think its NNE to be exact), e want it to be about
4ft or 5ft high as its the boundry to the street so would like a bit
of privacy.

The laurel hedge was 6ft on average, but I have clipped it down to 5ft
just to even it up a it was 7ft sloping own to 5ft.

There are 14 in total, but if it nds replacing then I'd probably
think of it.....

On Jan 28, 11:17 am, tina wrote:
Hi.

Will a laurel hedge be ok as a bordrfor my veg patch?

I cant find it now, but remember omeone telling me the leaves are
poisonous.

If this is right will it be safe for the veg?

Tina, on one side of our back garden, the veggie garden, there is a
five foot laurel hedge. I have just asked the veggie gardener aka my
husband and he says provided the height does not get out of hand by
casting shadows, there is nothing prohibitive in a laurel hedge being
next to a veggie garden. The vegetables growing near the hedge do not
seem to suffer from deprivation of anything.

JudithL

On 28/1/07 11:17, in article ,
"tina" wrote:

Hi.

Will a laurel hedge be ok as a bordrfor my veg patch?

I cant find it now, but remember omeone telling me the leaves are
poisonous.

If this is right will it be safe for the veg?

They grow quite tall and take up a lot of width, too but you don't have to
worry about them as poisonous to your veg. If it's simply as something
decorative and a visual definition, could you use lavender or rosemary?
If you need to screen your veg. plot from prying eyes, could you put up
trellis and grow e.g. sweet peas or peas and runner beans up it?
If it's a screen to hide it from the rest of the garden, you might like to
look at something like willow hurdles or a simple but attractive paling
fence.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

tina writes
Hi.

Will a laurel hedge be ok as a bordrfor my veg patch?

I cant find it now, but remember omeone telling me the leaves are
poisonous.

If this is right will it be safe for the veg?

Be aware that the leaves of potatoes are also poisonous ;-)

In other words, the fact that parts or all of a plant is poisonous to
humans is not a reason for not growing it near you vegetable patch
(always assuming you can distinguish between your vegetables and the
poisonous plants - ISTR there have been several cases of people
poisoning themselves by eating daffodil bulbs in mistake for onions)
--
Kay

In article ,
tina writes:
|
| Nick, Its a north (think its NNE to be exact), e want it to be about
| 4ft or 5ft high as its the boundry to the street so would like a bit
| of privacy.

That's good. You needn't worry about the shade it casts, then.

| The laurel hedge was 6ft on average, but I have clipped it down to 5ft
| just to even it up a it was 7ft sloping own to 5ft.
|
| There are 14 in total, but if it nds replacing then I'd probably
| think of it.....

Oh, I wouldn't get rid of an EXISTING hedge in that location; I would
just not plant a NEW one. As everyone else says, you don't have a
significant problem, but vegetables very close to it won't grow well
in dry spells in the summer (if any).

What you are doing is fine.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.