A quick update and some questions.

Firstly, I thought I'd post a little update in case any of you remember my buried barrels mystery. You guys helped me identify them as a water saving system. Well after bailing them out (mostly) and fishing out bricks, patio slabs and wood from the bottom I discovered they weren't half barrels, they were whole barrels! God only knows how they got them in there. Plan to completely remove them was quickly abandoned and instead I decided to dig down to half way then cut them with a power saw:

Took bloomin ages digging out all that clay! Next I made holes in the bottom with a hand drill, the last of the water didn't really drain out but by then I was fed up so decided to fill them in. I've managed to get about a foot from the top of the hole with everything I had so now need to get some more top soil. My kale and broccoli have been watching through the greenhouse glass and are getting very excited about finally having somewhere proper to live!
Which leads me to my first question - how does anyone grow brassicas outside? I have about 30 in pots in the g/h which have been absolutely devastated by caterpillars. The only reason they are still alive is every day I spend ages picking up the pots and hunting for caterpillars. How do I do this once I plant them out? Second question - like with killing unicorns or scrapping rare cars, do you go to hell for squishing baby butterflies?

Next question, the 18" eucalyptus I planted 10 months ago to fill some space in my newly weeded/empty garden has done a great job. Now how the hell do I slow it down? It has one spindly main stem about 6 feet high and a second one nearly as big coming out about a foot above ground level. I have already chopped a foot off each, is it ok to keep doing this?

The mostly red/purple hebe I planted in spring is now almost completely green, is this normal?

I know this has been done before, but can you give me a couple of hedging plant ideas? Evergreen, not fast growing, shade tolerant and preferably native. It's not really for a proper hedge but to grow in front of a wire mesh fence in my 'orchard' alongside the currants and cultivated blackberries that are already there.

Last one I promise! What will happen (if anything) if I paint weedkiller on to the Leylandii branches that have smashed their way into my greenhouse from next door?

Many thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer

 

Hi LindsayH: bargain! Because, it's done the job you intended (and then some!)

I inherited a eucalyptus and they are fast growing little blighters.

Fortunately (for me) the one I have was in a pot (albeit, a very, large, pot!). As you (now) know, they are very fast growing shrubs/trees, but they can be controlled with a yearly chop (pollarding?). The best time to do this is in Spring and will stem their growth into manageable proportions.

My next door neighbour has one which has grown phenomenally, even in my 3yrs of being here, and is never cut, trimmed, reduced. It's a monster (and so is their fig; but, that should be another thread )

If you really do not want the work/do not like it anymore, you could always dig it out (and sooner, rather than later) "Pinching" out the tops, may appear good advice, but a "pinch" will have little impact (that tea drinking smiley should have given you the clue you are having your tail tweaked by Our Mandy ).

In Spring, it needs reducing by a good third to half of it's size to keep it in check/manageable. "Bushing" out is what will happen, but, just think: you have seen how "high" it can climb in a season, so, trimming it down in height and you will be facing a similar dilemma in "bushiness"

Do you recall which variety of eucalyptus it is?

 

Yes. But then some would say you go to hell for everything, and some would say you're already in hell and this life is your chance to break out, and some would say you create your own hell in your mind. Still others would say its ok to squish caterpillars. Personally I try not too. I like plants, but secretly I like creatures more, and see the plants as just a home/shelter/pantry for creatures.

Well, in law, the neighbour's trees have trespassed and caused damage to your property, so your neighbour is liable to compensate you for that damage, if you wanted to pursue it. Equally, if you paint a systemic weedkiller onto their tree, even though you only target the bit on your side, its criminal damage and you become liable to compensate your neighbour for their tree if you kill it. Personally I'd chop the offending branches off, give them to the neighbour (its still their property), and explain that you don't want to lose a significant chunk of your garden to their trees. Just talk to them (if they are approachable) and see what you can work out. If they are not approachable, you can still legally chop off any part of their tree that crosses your boundary.

 

I cover them with scaffolders debris netting (the netting needs to be very fine to keep the Cabbage White Butterfly out, as they can fold up their wings and squeeze through very narrow gaps). You can also do leaf-patrol and rub off the clusters of (usually yellow) eggs ... or you can pick the caterpillars off, but by the time you see THEM they will be causing damage.

Pictures of 9-year-old setting up protection for my Brassicas:

http://kgarden.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/brassica-netting-against-cabbage-white-butterfly/

Chop it down in spring each year. It won't mind, and will form a bush plus, as a bonus, it will keep its "juvenile" foliage - which, depending on variety, is most probably more attractive than its adult foliage.

Probably. Quite a lot of Purple leafed plants green-up in the Summer months.

How tall & thick do you want it to be?

As others have said don't risk killing your neighbour's tree, just cut off anything coming over the divide. If you cut Leylandii back to "old wood" it won't regrow, so you could cut it back to the trunk, on your side, and then you would just have bare brown wood (which will look ugly, but might suit your purpose), or trim it back to young green wood/leaf and then maintain it as a clipped hedge - but being Leylandii you'll probably have to cut it three times a year :( I wouldn't cut a Leylandii hedge any later than now (late cutting runs the increased risk of disease from Leylandii aphid)

 

Hebe will return to it's reddish tinge again in winter.. cooler air and dimmer light bring out the red tinge in some plants.

 

Some great replies, thanks guys. I can always count on you!

Thanks Clueless, it's good to get a bit existential every now and then I've been moving any baby butterflies that are big enough to handle to a self seeded brassica of some kind that is growing in a pot on my patio. I've been having to squish the small ones though

The eucalyptus is a 'gunnii'. It only cost three quid in a sale so didn't ask too many questions at the time. I don't want to give the impression that I'm ungrateful, it's doing a swell job and I like it a lot. I'll just keep chopping bits off it then!

This is the fence where I want a sort-of-hedge:

I only want it to cover the fence up a bit and to be wildlife friendly. I guess I want something that doesn't get bigger than 4-5 foot and is quite narrow, or happy to be chopped to that size. Slow growing might be a good idea - oh, and non toxic.

The hedge in question is my neighbours and I went round and had a really good chat with them about it in spring. They didn't sound impressed at the time and have done nothing. I can't get at it behind the greenhouse as there is a wire mesh fence right behind. It's smashing panes of glass and blocking most of the light to my veg patch. In places I've tried to hack at it already, but it's about 20 feet tall in places.

 

AMongst the most pretty Juvenile foliage, so worth cutting back hard each year or two (or cut 1/3rd of the shoots back each year, so none older than 3 years) to keep that "look" I reckon.

Vigorous though!

Looks a bit shaded?

Not really sure what to suggest. Trouble with slow growing is that it takes ages to make the hedge ... trouble with fast growing is that it fills the gap quickly ... but then doesn't stop. Much like that menace that your neighbour has planted.

Evergreen none toxic wildlife friendly hedge:

Yew (slow to get going, then only a foot per year, smart when cut). Toxic, but I don't think anything will try to eat it, in practice. You could plant Thuja plicata atrovirens if you want a smart clipped hedge - quicker than Yew, slower than Leylandii, and more controllable too.
Holly - too wide for that gap I reckon. The fallen leaves are a prickly nightmare when weeding in borders nearby
Box - perhaps too slow? Risk of Box blight, sadly.
Privet - would be OK I think. Can be kept narrow. Might be a bit vigorous?
Escallonia - might be too wide. It grows in a rather scruffy shape (if you like that sort of thing). Pretty flowers, that would keep the wildlife happy
Laurel - FAR too wide!
Holm oak - bit of an unusual choice! Probably too wide.
Euonymous - I had the plain (large leaf) ones as hedges, but I think the smaller leafed ones look good. Variegated ones. Should be fine as a thin hedge.

The good news is that where it is brown, beside your greenhouse, it won't grow back any more. The bad news is that not much of it is brown ... and as one would expect with Leylandii where it is growing its adding about 3' a year :(

You'd have an uphill battle, but [ultimately] the courts will find in your favour at that height.

 

Thanks for the hedge plant suggestions, I'm going to go and have a google.

The naughty hedge pictures are a bit misleading, it looks 8 feet high in places where I've chopped at it over the last year. The middle of the hedge (width ways) and on their side it is much higher. I'd be quite happy with 8 feet!
The height is one thing, the greenhouse is another.
I haven't sited the greenhouse anywhere, but the previous owner's sons tell me the greenhouse has been there longer than the hedge. I might just try painting an ickle bit of weedkiller on a small bit that's poking through and see what happens. It really is causing a lot of damage!
Cheers guys!

 

If you don't mind it looking brown just cut the branches back to the trunk - on Leylandii they won't regrow, and [unlike most plants] it won't re-sprout from the trunk

 

Well ... only in places (most places I grant you), but the green bits will continue to grow (and they'll grow a lot each year). If they were cut right back to the trunk they would never grow back - but they'll look fugly of course ...