General Chat

I must be getting old, a few years ago I wouldnt have thought about buying a hedge.... but anyway, I need something to go across my front garden, I dont want a fence as I know next doors kids will lean against it all night :-( not that I'd be precious about a fence, but I dont want them chatting under my bedroom window at midnight. So I thought of a hedge of some sort, but the garden centres only seem to sell 2 or 3 foot cuttings that wouldnt stand up on their own anyway. I need something quite substantial or prickly! Holly could be an issue, but I cant find a 4 or 5 foot hollybush anywhere, they just seem to be small shoots.

Thankyou ladies. Will Hawthorn stand up by itself? At the minute we have nothing! Its a concrete ground, by the pavement. The front garden was shingled by the previous occupiers but they didnt do it properly and its a mess. Quite muddy. Im thinking of turfing the garden (or poss shingle) but need to block the front off as we get a lot of litter coming on. I'd quite like the privacy too.

Alongside the pavement. I'd put bush/hedge across the front except for a 2 foot wide gap at the end for people to walk upto the front door. Have found a possible garden centre in Baginton, we need to get a wiggle on if its all going to be done by March!

We've got permission as the neighbours have fences, although I imagine the height restriction would be 4 foot. Could get away with a teensy bit higher though. I cant cope with the kids sat on the fence shouting at all hours, the mother has/wants no control over them at all. Thanks for your help ladies, I think Hawthorn it is! Hopefully it'll 'take' okay and not die on me! :-) xx

When we wanted a barrier at the bottom of the garden where it joins a field and people sometimes walk along it, (and we think it's where burglars came in once and broke into the house through a back window) o.h.planted escallonia, and berberis which flower at some time in the year, then have berries for the birds, and are also nice and prickly. He mixed them together for interest, and put in a plastic mesh fence along the edge of them so as they grew he threaded the shoots through the plastic, helped keep them growing where he wanted and supported them and stopped people walking on them as they grew. You could mix some holly bushes in with it too and mahonia is nice as it smells pleasant.
Why not advertise on gumtree for plants, there might be someone with lots of little ones to give away and you could plant those between some bought ones which were larger so they helped fill the spaces?

Lizx

Thanks ladies, Im going to write this down so I dont miss anything out. Very very helpful xx

Have you thought about a rose hedge?

Relatively cheap, and would put on a lot of growth in the first year, nice to look at,nice to smell,and very prickly.

Would only need pruning once a year.

We had problems years ago with kids on the 2 ft wall at the end of our garden. We planted berberis. Colourful all year. And no kids at all from that day to this! No dogs jumping over either!

You could try asking on Freecycle, as people often have trees to give away when they alter a garden. Thats how we passed ours on. There should be one in your area. Ours is Monmouthshire.