Raised Bed Hedge / Screen

Hope everyone is safe and well.

I appreciate there are a number of forums similar to this and have read a number, however as every house is different and we all have different requirements I would be very grateful for some advice or thoughts.

We live on a very busy "A" road and have a 1M high brick front wall, we would love to create some screening. We are unable (various reasons) to make holes in the solid tarmac front driveway next to this brick wall. The length to cover is 6m, we do not want to use pots, as we will need a large number to cover 6m and it will not look good. We have a water source and drainage nearby.

What I am thinking is to self build 3 X 2M wide raised beds using treated sleepers (sleepers are 100mm X 200mm). I can use the 200mm side going up and have 2 or 3 high, therefore the height of the raised bed will be 400mm or 600mm. I will line the inside with plastic sheet (as treated and to preserve timber) and lay the recommended stones/shingles at the base and fill with recommended compost etc. On one side of the garden we already have Common Laurel hedge, therefore ideally we want this in the raised bed to match.

Does my plan with what I am thinking workable? With what our requirements are, does this sound like the sensible thing to do?

I have considered using thinner timber instead of 100mm sleeper, but would like a heavy duty construction that will last, also aware how quick laurel will grow and therefore heavy duty to not blow over. Bamboo has been mentioned on this site many times and that is a consideration, but as we already have laurel it may look better.

Thanks

 

Hi

First I would check with the local council how high you can grow the hedge as most front gardens the law is 1 metre 3 feet 3inches as is your wall now , if a mixed plant hedge you can get around the law but using the same plant it becomes a hedge. ....

Sleepers would be fine but you would have to incorporate a watering system (timed) as basically you are creating a large window box as such and ... Laurel is a gross feeder of water and food and holidays in july August imagine what you would come back to if it wasn't watered regularly


Spruce

 

Thanks Spruce.

I should have mentioned it is fine with the local council.

Must admit I was not aware of laurel being a "gross feeder" - the laurel we have on the other side is in the ground.

 

thats good about the council ... yes the leaves will go yellow and fall off