Impressive work! Looks like you have a fence already, which presumably survives the gales OK, so how about just painting that up nicely and not bothering with an actual hedge? Plant some shrubs in front of it, maybe, but not so close as to grow through to next door... Unless privacy is the big issue? (I remember your comments about the previous neighbour and his binoculars!). I suppose another option would be to use wargame terrain methods on a 1:1 scale, but it would need an awful lot of foam, green paint and PVA Glue.
I'd almost forgotten there was a fence behind there [not true], and it has a fine coat of moss, as you see. This fence must date from 1975, when the garden areas were divided up from what used to be the communal "drying green" for the hamlet, but it seems pretty sound. Put it this way: I shall not examine it too carefully for a week or two.
The moss gives away that ours is the north side of the fence, so whatever gets planted in here is going to have to thrive in very little sunlight. Shrubs are interesting, but my experience with shrubs in recent years has been disappointing - they either die or they go crazy - they do not seem to understand what it said on the label.
It will be interesting to see if this week of low temperatures makes the frost / ice any worse on that path and car if parked there, if so …… another hedge might be the order of the day!
That is interesting - clear skies and iron-hard frozen snow this morning, for example (had to boil a kettle to prise the gate open, to put out the dustbin!). Our side of the fence faces approx north-west, and the prevailing wind here is from the west, which means it comes along the driveway from the gate. The area in front of the garage has always been a chilly spot, so there may not be a lot of difference. The idea of snow sweeping across the gardens might be a new one! I think a replacement hedge is a good idea.
You may want to research Portuguese Laurel. It seems a good combo between fast grow, manageable height and robustness ….. at least that is what I am hoping 🙂
They didn't mess about did they! In a former life we had an overweigh Leylandii hedge, that was part of a simmering war between the previous house owner and the neighbour. It took a long time for my then other half to come round to the view that it must go. We gained over a metre in width of garden (significant enough on our plot) and a lot more sunlight. There was a lot less moss in the lawn after that.
Hi Chris - once the shock has worn off, I am hoping there will be a number of things to feel positive about. Less lawn moss would be good, certainly. I understand that what roots are still down there will rot pretty quickly, so we can expect a further increase in toadstools. A general theme in our garden (accelerated by the odd storm) is that I bought it 23 years as "well-stocked, low maintenance", and since then we've spent a lot of time cutting things down and digging them out as we ran out of space. This is not "low maintenance" in any sense that I would have understood!
Impressive work! Looks like you have a fence already, which presumably survives the gales OK, so how about just painting that up nicely and not bothering with an actual hedge? Plant some shrubs in front of it, maybe, but not so close as to grow through to next door... Unless privacy is the big issue? (I remember your comments about the previous neighbour and his binoculars!).
ReplyDeleteI suppose another option would be to use wargame terrain methods on a 1:1 scale, but it would need an awful lot of foam, green paint and PVA Glue.
I'd almost forgotten there was a fence behind there [not true], and it has a fine coat of moss, as you see. This fence must date from 1975, when the garden areas were divided up from what used to be the communal "drying green" for the hamlet, but it seems pretty sound. Put it this way: I shall not examine it too carefully for a week or two.
DeleteThe moss gives away that ours is the north side of the fence, so whatever gets planted in here is going to have to thrive in very little sunlight. Shrubs are interesting, but my experience with shrubs in recent years has been disappointing - they either die or they go crazy - they do not seem to understand what it said on the label.
Wow, that does look very different!
ReplyDeleteAs usual when the garden alters, I don't like it much, but hey, there's a war on!
DeleteIt will be interesting to see if this week of low temperatures makes the frost / ice any worse on that path and car if parked there, if so …… another hedge might be the order of the day!
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting - clear skies and iron-hard frozen snow this morning, for example (had to boil a kettle to prise the gate open, to put out the dustbin!). Our side of the fence faces approx north-west, and the prevailing wind here is from the west, which means it comes along the driveway from the gate. The area in front of the garage has always been a chilly spot, so there may not be a lot of difference. The idea of snow sweeping across the gardens might be a new one! I think a replacement hedge is a good idea.
DeleteYou may want to research Portuguese Laurel. It seems a good combo between fast grow, manageable height and robustness ….. at least that is what I am hoping 🙂
ReplyDeleteGood shout, Norm - thanks.
DeleteThey didn't mess about did they! In a former life we had an overweigh Leylandii hedge, that was part of a simmering war between the previous house owner and the neighbour. It took a long time for my then other half to come round to the view that it must go. We gained over a metre in width of garden (significant enough on our plot) and a lot more sunlight. There was a lot less moss in the lawn after that.
ReplyDeleteHi Chris - once the shock has worn off, I am hoping there will be a number of things to feel positive about. Less lawn moss would be good, certainly. I understand that what roots are still down there will rot pretty quickly, so we can expect a further increase in toadstools. A general theme in our garden (accelerated by the odd storm) is that I bought it 23 years as "well-stocked, low maintenance", and since then we've spent a lot of time cutting things down and digging them out as we ran out of space. This is not "low maintenance" in any sense that I would have understood!
Delete