The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Gardens => Topic started by: Hogwarts on January 03, 2024, 01:54:29 pm
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I'm getting fed up of mending my garden fence every year after gales, I thought a fence would be relatively maintenance free but after repairs, replacements from rotting and painting its not really.
So I 'm looking for the best low maintenance hedge that does not grow too tall and might need trimming just once a year and looks relatively attractive or at least neat. The hedge would need to reach at least 6ft for privacy obviously.
Please do not suggest Lleylandi I might kill you, that is what the fence was to replace and its horrible stuff that grows far too tall and fast.
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You should rule out Laurel as well. Someone suggested a beech hedge to me when our Lleylandi hedge started to die. Whilst it does shed leaves in Autumn, enough stay on the branches over Winter to maintain privacy. Of course it will take many years to establish.
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Nothing will get to 6feet quickly so if you want that you will need invest in very established plants that are already a number of feet tall.
I'm going down this route for a patch that was overgrown so they have a better chance of not being choked by weeds
Christmas and Birthday garden vouchers amount to about £200, so I should get about four or five for that
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Whichever of beech or hornbeam best suits your conditions. Once established, an annual trim to top and shape sides in summer will result in a hedge which probably keeps its leaves over winter in any but the most extreme conditions. I guess re-laying might be needed maybe every 20 years or so.
Hawthorn and / or blackthorn work but will need trimming and occasional re-laying. (Don't have blackthorn next to livestock, its thorns cause problems with feet and mouths.) If the conditions suit, you could include some holly in the mix. If you don't mind whether it's native or not, and it's not next to livestock, firethorn would add interest and impenetrability, and grows faster so would establish a hedge quicker than hawthorn alone.
If not adjacent to livestock, yew makes a magnificent hedge, evergreen of course. An annual trim keeps it tidy. But it's not a fast growing plant so will take quite a while to establish.
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You should rule out Laurel as well. Someone suggested a beech hedge to me when our Lleylandi hedge started to die. Whilst it does shed leaves in Autumn, enough stay on the branches over Winter to maintain privacy. Of course it will take many years to establish.
What is wrong with laurel? My neighbour has a laurel hedge and its looks quite nice I thought.
looking at lonicera nitida
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We have a Laurel hedge here and it is a lot of work cutting it. 12 metres long with just three original plants, the annual trip to the tip is a full van with 5 x 300 litre bags full. The thick waxy leaves won't compost, so shredding isn't an option. We planted a Portuguese Laurel the other side of the veg plot. 18 plants in 12 metres and after 5 years it is a full hedge 1.5 metres high. It was supposed to be slow growing up to 2 metres maximum, but someone has warned us that after 5 years it will go crazy sideways and we could end up with more work that we don't need. So I don't recommend Laurel of any variety.
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Laurel is poisonous to livestock. Probably best to avoid for that reason.
We have beech hedges that do well for all the reasons above. And it doesn't have jaggy clippings either.
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Not laurel (poisonous) & also nothing with thorns - they are just not worth the toxicity risk or manual handling issues (they would just be long-term hassle!). Along-side beech, I would throw in hazel. Beech can be a bit "scratchy" (and I have ended up with quite persistent skin trauma from scratches so keep arms covered during any "close-up" maintenance: I'm not sure about hazel as I've yet to trim a hazel hedge. From my limited experience also of hornbeam (mentioned in this thread) I would say it grows comparatively fast!
Now here's a thought: why not plant an apple or pear hedge and instead of worrying about doing the fruit-tree pruning thing, just take a hedge-trimmer to it (preferably Winter and maybe in July also) since it's main purpose will be hedge not fruit although you and your next-door neighbour might get some fruit also!
Lastly, willow - but not any of the very very fast growing varieties and not close-up to house drainage system.
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Most of our hedges are mixed natives at least 50% hawthorn, but closer to the house we have a Rosa Rugosa hedge. It grows quickly and suckers so becomes wider over time. Once it reaches the required width just mow the grass beside it and that will contain it. It's cheap if you buy it in 50s or 100s, you get pretty pink or white flowers in summer, and huge red hips in autumn and the whole thing can be trimmed with a normal hedge trimmer, without any specialist pruning. Nobody can push through a Rosa Rugosa hedge, and the hens are safe from stray predators when they hide inside :hughen:
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I'd go for a mixture of hawthorn and blackthorn. Then you will get sloes as well ! And you could learn to lay the hedge properly, over time.
We are in drystone wall country, so if there are no walls, it's 1m high stock fencing, with, maybe a topwire
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I'd go for a mixture of hawthorn and blackthorn. Then you will get sloes as well ! And you could learn to lay the hedge properly, over time.
We are in drystone wall country, so if there are no walls, it's 1m high stock fencing, with, maybe a topwire
After I layed a blackthorn hedge, I had deep scratches which took over a year to fully heal. It will do that to stock as well, must be something in the thorns. Blackthorn also suckers and spreads like mad, hateful stuff
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Yup, no-one with livestock wants blackthorn anywhere near the stock. Beautiful and productive plant in the right place, but the right place is not near livestock.
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I disagree.
Blackthorn and hawthorn (prefer blackthorn) is fine.
Need to protect it from the sheep for a few years though - mine love it
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Do you need to trim your blackthorn, @Bywaters? If not then perhaps the incidence of foot problems or mouth problems has been so low that it's gone unnoticed.
On our farm, abscesses caused by blackthorn puncture are our major welfare issue. We have to treat at least one sheep most years, and have had to have a pony put to sleep with an untreatable growth in the jaw where the initial injury was thought by the vet to have been quite likely caused by a blackthorn puncture.
I'm writing this immediately after writing a post about vaccination choices, and it's making me wonder whether blackthorn-induced problems may be more commonly experienced on holdings which do not vaccinate... :thinking:
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No need to trim here, but these are more isolated clumps of trees rather than hedges.
The sheep trim them by eating them
I've had a septic puncture woulnd myself, many years ago, but we haven't, to the best of my knowledge, any on the sheep
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Do you need to trim your blackthorn, @Bywaters? If not then perhaps the incidence of foot problems or mouth problems has been so low that it's gone unnoticed.
On our farm, abscesses caused by blackthorn puncture are our major welfare issue. We have to treat at least one sheep most years, and have had to have a pony put to sleep with an untreatable growth in the jaw where the initial injury was thought by the vet to have been quite likely caused by a blackthorn puncture.
I'm writing this immediately after writing a post about vaccination choices, and it's making me wonder whether blackthorn-induced problems may be more commonly experienced on holdings which do not vaccinate... :thinking:
We don't vaccinate Sally, but also we don't have any blackthorn as I hold witch trials to root it out :D . So no answer there ;)
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Holly makes a brilliant hedge, slow to get going but then grows well, I have a hedge down the side of the veg garden, great for wildlife too. Good protection for little birds nesting.
Otherwise I'd go for beech, or hornbeam, which grows in a wider variety of soils. I'm going to be digging some old Privet out and planting more beech (mainly because we have lots of self seeded beech :) )
Lonicera Nitida can send out underground runners, mine struggle to reach 6ft, bushing out rather than growing taller. I have lots to pull out of you are near West Yorkshire or know someone passing through.
I'm another who wouldn't plant blackthorn again, absolute nuisance spreading out from the hedge, not even any doors as compensation >:( .
Another option would be bamboo, making sure you either get a clumping variety (Fargesia), or put a root barrier down. Advantage is when established you could feed greenery to pigs and other livestock, a great green treat for my goats in winter, and use canes in garden or for projects. Very little maintenance, maybe lifting and dividing if you want more.
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Another fan of beech here. Holds its leaves over winter, and the new green leaves in Spring are absolutely beautiful. Safe for livestock to nibble on and makes fabulous kindling/firewood too.