Hedge quandary
 

Hello

I have a quandary over what to do about the hedge at the front of my house.

The hedge is a privet about 6 foot tall, which is exactly how I like it as it
create tremendous privacy from the road. The problem is the hedge only goes
along half the front of the house, the other half has nothing, no hedge or
anything.

The reason for this is that the previous owner of the house took away half
the hedge so he could put his car in the front garden.

I have taken up the flagstones he'd put down for the car in the garden and
created a small lawn. My next job is to fill in this section of missing
hedge.
What I'd really like is simply to have the 6 foot high privet continued so
I'll have a nice 6 foot hedge right across the front of the garden. Having
looked at the hedge plants at my local gardening centres I see that they are
approx 1 foot tall and I haven't a clue how long it will take them to become
6 foot hedges.

Also I don't know how long privet hedges remain good for. I have this
horrible feeling that I will watch the new privet hedge grow gradually over
years only to discover that when it has reached the height of the current
mature hedge, maybe the old hedge will die of old age or something...

Another possibility would be to remove the mature privet and put a new hedge
right across the front. The downside of this for me is that I do love having
the tall hedge now and it would presumably take a very long time for the new
hedge to get tall all the way across.

Maybe it is possible to buy hedge plants larger from somewhere which would
solve the problem.

Ideas anyone?

TIA
--
Patrick

Hedge quandary
 

"PJ" wrote in message
e.com...
Hello
Maybe it is possible to buy hedge plants larger from somewhere which
would
solve the problem.


you can certainly buy mature hedging plants 6ft yew @ £55 trade price ex
nursery. Plant at 60cm spacing

Don't know about privet but I'm sure it must be available too.

Where are you?

pk

Hedge quandary
 

On Fri, 6 Jun 2003 19:04:22 +0100, Paul Kelly wrote
(in message ):


"PJ" wrote in message
e.com...
Hello
Maybe it is possible to buy hedge plants larger from somewhere which
would
solve the problem.


you can certainly buy mature hedging plants 6ft yew @ £55 trade price ex
nursery. Plant at 60cm spacing

Don't know about privet but I'm sure it must be available too.

Where are you?

Hove (beside Brighton of course).


--
Patrick

Hedge quandary
 

PJ wrote in message
m...
Hello

I have a quandary over what to do about the hedge at the front of my
house.

The hedge is a privet about 6 foot tall, which is exactly how I like it
as it
create tremendous privacy from the road. The problem is the hedge only
goes
along half the front of the house, the other half has nothing, no hedge
or
anything.

The reason for this is that the previous owner of the house took away
half
the hedge so he could put his car in the front garden.

I have taken up the flagstones he'd put down for the car in the garden
and
created a small lawn. My next job is to fill in this section of missing
hedge.
What I'd really like is simply to have the 6 foot high privet continued
so
I'll have a nice 6 foot hedge right across the front of the garden.
Having
looked at the hedge plants at my local gardening centres I see that
they are
approx 1 foot tall and I haven't a clue how long it will take them to
become
6 foot hedges.

Also I don't know how long privet hedges remain good for. I have this
horrible feeling that I will watch the new privet hedge grow gradually
over
years only to discover that when it has reached the height of the
current
mature hedge, maybe the old hedge will die of old age or something...

Another possibility would be to remove the mature privet and put a new
hedge
right across the front. The downside of this for me is that I do love
having
the tall hedge now and it would presumably take a very long time for
the new
hedge to get tall all the way across.

Privet is quite quick growing, but a hedge will last for a very large
number of years, at my parents house the hedge had been in place for 70+
years and was still going strong and still kept to a reasonable size,
Privet will also root quite well from cuttings, as anyone who ahs used
privet as a row marker will know.

Mike
www.british-naturism.org.uk

Hedge quandary
 

In article m, PJ
writes
Hello

I have a quandary over what to do about the hedge at the front of my house.

The hedge is a privet about 6 foot tall, which is exactly how I like it as it
create tremendous privacy from the road. The problem is the hedge only goes
along half the front of the house, the other half has nothing, no hedge or
anything.


snip

Also I don't know how long privet hedges remain good for. I have this
horrible feeling that I will watch the new privet hedge grow gradually over
years only to discover that when it has reached the height of the current
mature hedge, maybe the old hedge will die of old age or something...

My father's privet hedge, planted in 1956, is still going strong. Over
the years it has acquired a few intruders - a holly bush for example -
but the basic privet hedge is as dense as ever.

Another possibility would be to remove the mature privet and put a new hedge
right across the front. The downside of this for me is that I do love having
the tall hedge now and it would presumably take a very long time for the new
hedge to get tall all the way across.

Maybe it is possible to buy hedge plants larger from somewhere which would
solve the problem.

You can do, but they will cost a lot, and older plants tend not to
settle so well as younger ones, which catch up and overtake withing a
very few years.

Your first approach - keeping the existing hedge and planting small
plants across the other half - seems best.

Temporary growing of climbers to screen the gap can give an illusion of
privacy while you're waiting for the short hedge to catch up.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

Hedge quandary
 

"PJ" wrote in message
e.com...
On Fri, 6 Jun 2003 19:04:22 +0100, Paul Kelly wrote
(in message ):


"PJ" wrote in message
e.com...
Hello
Maybe it is possible to buy hedge plants larger from somewhere which
would
solve the problem.


you can certainly buy mature hedging plants 6ft yew @ £55 trade price ex
nursery. Plant at 60cm spacing

Don't know about privet but I'm sure it must be available too.

Where are you?

Hove (beside Brighton of course).



Ah! the trendy south east! You are in luck, there are a good number of
nurseries in the London area who stock "Instant Garden" - you should be able
to find what you want. Try going along to a local small nursery and ask if
they can point you in the right direction.

pk

Hedge quandary
 

On Fri, 6 Jun 2003 23:51:34 +0100, Paul Kelly wrote
(in message ):


"PJ" wrote in message
e.com...
On Fri, 6 Jun 2003 19:04:22 +0100, Paul Kelly wrote
(in message ):


"PJ" wrote in message
e.com...
Hello
Maybe it is possible to buy hedge plants larger from somewhere which
would
solve the problem.


you can certainly buy mature hedging plants 6ft yew @ £55 trade price ex
nursery. Plant at 60cm spacing

Don't know about privet but I'm sure it must be available too.

Where are you?

Hove (beside Brighton of course).



Ah! the trendy south east! You are in luck, there are a good number of
nurseries in the London area who stock "Instant Garden" - you should be able
to find what you want. Try going along to a local small nursery and ask if
they can point you in the right direction.

Thank you very much for your help :)

Actually I am probably going to get the small plants now that I have read
that they'll be a good size within a few years. This is suggested by Kay
Easton in a neighbouring post.

I'm pleased to read that there is probably a lot of life ahead for the
section of hedge which is already there, so my fear that the small ones would
take many years to catch up and then to have the neighbouring hedge die of
old age is unlikely.

My neighbours have constructed an instant garden surrounding its edge with 8
foot trees they bought. I could have asked them about the hedge business, but
unfortunately we don't get on :(

To their credit they have a pond in their garden which seems to have greatly
increased the number of slug eating frogs in mine.



--
Patrick

Hedge quandary
 

"PJ" wrote in message
e.com...
On Fri, 6 Jun 2003 23:51:34 +0100, Paul Kelly wrote
(in message ):

Actually I am probably going to get the small plants now that I have read
that they'll be a good size within a few years. This is suggested by Kay
Easton in a neighbouring post.


In that case DO plant them well: 12" trench, 6" manure/compost in the
bottom. Fork over deeply. Good mix of soil and compost to backfill along
with a slow release fertilizer (bonemeal?). Water frequently, best is a
Leaky pipe looped round each plant and on a timer frequency/duration will
depend on local soil conditions.

You might be tempted to just dig smaller holes for the small pot sizes -
don't! In the long term a hedge takes an awful lot out of the soil and you
need to give it the best chance possible.

pk

Hedge quandary
 

On Sat, 7 Jun 2003 13:23:22 +0100, Paul Kelly wrote
(in message ):

In that case DO plant them well

Yes I will :)

I tend to be very thorough about things. I've been reading books (goodness)
and I will be doing it as you've described.

This will be the second gardening thing I've ever done, the first being my
lawn out the front which is doing very well I'm pleased to write :)


--
Patrick