New gardener with hedge woes

Hello all,

I have only quite recently moved to a place with my own bit of garden for the first time. Much excitement but there quite a lot to sort out and I think I'm going to depend upon a fair bit of friendly advice!

We've got a reasonable area to work with, but it comes with 5 sheds, lots of gravel, slabs, weed membrane, more gravel, more membrane, astroturf, a very poorly hedge, and a cattery (sans cats). . .

I wondered if there is anything at all that can be done to improve the life of the hedge - I'll try to attach pictures. It has sadly been neglected for a long time, and had various sheds etc against the side of it. Lots of damp, dead material stuck in it. It is still manage to provide an excellent barrier from a main road down one side, however, and this is really important to us in particular now as we have a newborn.

Any guidance very gratefully received (I'm expecting bad news...)

Thank you!

 

I sorry to say but them conifers are finished on your side they will never regrow, the only little bit which will fill in slightly are still green the rest is dead.

Might be best to let the Ivy grow up it or cover with another climbing plant or remove the entire hedge.

 

That hedge is toast. Looks like too much was taken off it at the wrong time of the year too.
I think if it was mine I would put a classy fence in front of it with a topping of lattice to enable you to grow something through it.

The hedge behind the sheds looks good. Google how to trim conifer hedging properly and dont dl it till the birds have left their nests. Karma.

Lift the gravel,powerwash the slabs,lay turf on that nice flat sandy bit and paint that little shed and it will look smart very quickly and cheaply too. Have fun.

 

I agree. Ivy is the answer.

 

Welcome to GC. You have come to the right place for advice. You mention a newborn. So first and foremost, think of the youngster. Set about making a safe area for the little one. In time. Get rid of that conifer hedge. Once again, thinking about junior, ivy (hedera) forget it. A new hedge can be planted.

 

Thank you very much for all of the replies - it is really helpful!

Creating a safe-haven is definitely a priority. Thankfully the part of the hedge that is still alive is the part between the garden and the main road. Unfortunately behind the brown shed it has died, so there is an easy crawl space there to the pavement.

If I were to cut back into the hedge like the previous owners have in a small section (cut right to the wood) and then place e.g. a fence or a row of bamboo, would I then run into problem with what remains of the hedge behind? My worry is that what remains would just start to rot and collapse - or, would the green on the top and on the other side be enough to keep the central trunks and branches standing?

Thanks again!

 

If youre planting bamboo, plant a clump forming variety. We planted one that took over the area, sending roots under the patio and sprouting up everywhere. Took years to kill.

I would be tempted to take the dead hedge out (after the nesting season) and put a fence on the boundary. Its amazing how much extra space this gives.

 

I would not plant bamboo; it will take over and does little for wildlife. The ivy idea is a good one for covering the ugly hedge and when mature it is excellent for birds. You could also consider other climbers for the hedge while the ivy is growing.

 

Thanks again. So really I need to decide between cutting it all down and replacing with either a hedge or a fence, vs planting a climber of some variety. Encouraging wildlife is certainly a big consideration, we'd love a garden full of birds.

As for the grass. . . In the back garden I have lifted the slabs and was going to lift all of the gravel and sand - there is weed membrane underneath so I thought that in order to grow grass I will need to get rid of all of that so that the roots have somewhere to go - perhaps this isn't necessary?

In the front garden I think that I probably do need to lift everything - there was a very heavy layer of gravel, with between 2-3 layers of membrane underneath. . . but then, underneath that, there was another older layer of gravel (pretty compacted/solid now) and then underneath that again there is an old layer of membrane that looks to be made of an impervious kind of nylon - it's terrible for drainage, so I think I need to break up the compacted layer of mud/gravel with a pick-axe then get that deep layer of membrane away before I can consider soil and turf.

Already shifted around 6 1-ton builders bags worth of gravel and sand. It's slow-going just now!

 

What’s behind the hedge. Maybe neighbor’s fence?

 

How high does the hedge need to be ? If you were to replace it, chose something that isn't too fast growing. Theres lots out there to chose from

 

It's just this hedge between our gardens. They are keen to improve the way things look, as well (although their side is considerably greener than ours). Only complicating factor is that they are renting so we'll need to see if their landlord has any strong feelings about it all.

 

The hedge is right in the middle of the two plots - there are some remnants of low metal fencing from the previous owners of our house - the destruction of the garden was for a cat business. I think that returning our garden to the birds is a kind of karma.

So - my wife and I were looking at the hedge tonight, and really it seems like - as you have all said - it really needs to go. It won't be cheap, but neither would fencing be and if we leave it there only to cover it, I think that we would always regret it.

That leaves the type of hedge - there's one vote for yew. We're also looking at laurel. Factors for our hedge choice

• evergreen
• privacy
• berries etc to attract wildlife
• fast-ish growing
• something that can cope with shade
• something that can grow in heavy/clay-like soil
• something that can tolerate heavy pruning so that someone can't destroy it so easily (I'm thinking to the future here of the shared maintenance with the other garden)

We're looking at this place to maybe get a new hedge - they seem reasonable and are not too far away: scotplantsdirect. They have yew and laurel and various others as rootballs; would give me a few months to clear the current hedge before the rootballs would be available.

Any further thoughts gratefully heard!

 

Ive got beech, laurel, mixed and leylandi hedging. Beech is my fave. Lush green in summer,birds like it,keeps its dry brown leaves in winter.
More interesting than laurel and easier to maintain. Laurel gets woody,needs hard pruning and recovers well