Hedging Question

[Jay3]

Hi All,

Can anyone offer some advice on this topic.

I have recently purchased a property which is surrounded by a large conifer hedge, its 5ft deep and 14ft high. Parts of the edge are dead where it has previously been cut back too far and sections are completely dead.

1) Is it possible to replace sections of the hedge with mature conifer? 2) Any ideas of cost or websites on where to purchase mature conifer for hedging.

Next part of my query:

We would like to have a veggie patch along the side of the house but the hedge here is particularly thick.

1) Can I cut the hedge right back on the inner side (which will kill half the hedgeI know) and erect a fence on the inner side of the hedge to square off the veggie patch, without the external side of the hede dying too?

2) I know this might sound a daft question but if half the hedge is cut back to the brown dead section it wont grow back will it? I'm just thinking about the fence which I plan to put infront of it.

I'd appreciate any advice?

We were initially thinking of ripping it all up and replacing it with lorrel hedging, however, the cost is very high and it will me that our garden will be very exposed until the hedge matures as we live on an estate.

Thanks, Jay3

[hriphi]

I was wondering ......what is this group all about? Thanks

[dacoop42]

Dear Jay, just rip the hedge out and put the fence and graden in place of it.

[Kay Lancaster]

Possible, but terribly expensive and likely to fail. I'd discard that idea, were I you.

Generally, removing more than 1/3 of the growth will kill a plant.

I'd pull out what you've got now in sections, replanting with a mixed large shrub border that is not in a straight line. When plants die or one fails to grow with the speed of the others, it looks like a gap-toothed grin in a linear hedge of a single species. In a mixed species border, it looks like part of the plan. Also an area enclosed by a meandered edge, particularly if you can "borrow" some view of the neighbor's lot, looks larger than one with a hard, linear edging.

If you need quick cover, think about things like hops, climbing roses, and othereasily grown plants that can be put on temporary trellises and taken down when they're no longer wanted.

[David Hare-Scott]

It's a trap to get unsuspecting people to ask "what is this group all about". It serves no other purpose. All the discussion of gardens is just misdirection.

D