In article , says...

*sigh* Retirement is an attractive prospect -- a whole new array of
employment opportunities :-) I want to learn drystone walling, myself.


regards
sarah


--
Think of it as evolution in action.

I hope you've got a strong back. It's hard work constantly bent over picking up
stones.
--
Jonathan Ward
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Jonathan Ward wrote:

In article , says...

*sigh* Retirement is an attractive prospect -- a whole new array of
employment opportunities :-) I want to learn drystone walling, myself.


I hope you've got a strong back. It's hard work constantly bent over
picking up stones.

I've had a bad back, but have taken steps to repair it, as it were.
Improved posture and flexibility, building the muscles that support the
spine, that sort of thing. Seems to have worked so far; I feel much more
confident when bending and lifting.

regards
sarah


--
Think of it as evolution in action.

Stephen Howard wrote in message . ..
On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 17:19:27 +0100, Kay Easton
wrote:

In article , Mike Lyle
writes


snowdrops, and lungwort on the north side, ramsons if it's
moist; bluebells, of course.

I'd be surprised if it was moist enough under a hawthorn hedge.

Good point!
I often clear the ivy out of the bottom my hedges, and I reckon it
must be one of the driest spots in the garden.

It depends on location: most of my primroses and all my ramsons are on
the north side of an old hedge, but below it, as the hedge is at the
top of a stream-bank. Hawthorn will tolerate places too damp for it to
dry out fully. Round here we have bluebells doing well in the wild on
dry banks: I imagine our 30+ inches of rain helps!

I do also have some primroses doing very well among ivy on a
five-foot-high south-facing lump of subsoil which dries to rock in
summer, but gets lightly shaded over by blackthorn. I haul out some of
the ivy every so often, but have never watered.

Curiously, our best local display of wild primroses cascades down the
very well-drained steps up the embankment beside a railway bridge.
(North-facing, though.)

Cowslips, by the way, look stunning for me with aubrieta on a horrid
rubbly bed at the front of the house. I only put them in as a stop-gap
while ericas got established.

Mike.

A friend who knows about these things tells me not to lay mine, but to cut
it back by 1/3 or 1/2 and trim it quite often so it stays that height. This
is supposed to provoke new growth low down, without the risks associated
with laying. Having said that, most hedgerow shrubs seem to stand quite a
lot of mishandling.

Regards


"Kay Easton" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
In article , rob w
writes
We have at the bottom of our new garden a very old hawthorn hedge,
this is very thick and quite tall but the bottom 3 to 4 feet is bare
and quite open.
It would be very easy to crawl through. My question is can this hedge
be thickened up or should I remove and replant, I have heard of laying
it over but the bottom trunks are very thick and I’m not sure if
this will work.

Get and expert in to lay it.

If you want to renovate it yourself, it'll take a year or two. Hawthorn
shoots quite readily from bare wood, so what I would do (and am doing on
mine with signs of success) is reduce the height of the whole thing
though not so low as to be below the current green bit. Then on
multistemmed plants take out one or two trunks quite low, and try with
any that are convenient cutting them half or 3/4 through and bending
them to lie sideways.

Your aim is to encourage shooting down below by removing top growth, and
to allow enough light into the bottom for that new growth to flourish.
--
Kay Easton

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

The message
from (rob w) contains these words:

We have at the bottom of our new garden a very old hawthorn hedge,
this is very thick and quite tall but the bottom 3 to 4 feet is bare
and quite open.
It would be very easy to crawl through. My question is can this hedge
be thickened up or should I remove and replant, I have heard of laying
it over but the bottom trunks are very thick and I’m not sure if
this will work.
Any thoughts / advise gratefully accepted.

I did a DIY hedge-lay on a tall old hawthorn hedge last winter. The
bottom was bare, as you describe, tho' not so high up. It has since gone
wild with growth and when trimmed next year will make a really thick
hedge. It is a very vigorous and forgiving plant.

A Local who watched my struggles told me that Hawthorn will readily
sprout from low down if you nick the trunks through the bark here and
there with a billhook. It seems to work. (Vigorous and forgiving plant).
That might only work, tho', if you've previously reduced the hedge in
one way or another.

Brian MItchell