Daydream thread continues.....

Itismehonest

What's the hedge of?

alfie_1

ROZEE..... i think holly is a good barrier hedging but you have to make sure it doesnt choke out "nicer" things in your hedgeline. if its a big gap then ideal. only you know whats what BUT i would also wait until leaves are all out as hedges can look bare but then spring into life [pardon pun] in spring ....


oooo my turn to woffle when IMH just asks the question...hehe

rozeepozee

At the moment it's mainly very established trees in a more or less single line on a bank. One side is the garden, this side of the bank is about 3 feet high, on the other side is the main busy road and it drops right down into the council ditch about 5 feet or more down. There are some gaps, though not huge ones. I perhaps should take some pics. It doesn't look like a hedgerow, it looks like a straggly collection of neglected old trees! It's very tall and obscures a lovely view of fields and Cardigan Bay in the distance - most inconvenient! Five or six of the trees on this side of the land have just fallen over, they look to be still alive as they're budding but don 't look very healthy and we're going to get rid of them but all the ones in the hedge seem okay, if very tatty, full of lichens, some ivy etc. If we plugged the gaps, the children wouldn't be able to squeeze though. I was thinking of stock fencing it but apart from the expense it's a bit of a logistical nightmare as the tree trunks would get in the way of doing a run of fence. I'm totally bemused.

Alfie, we cross posted - yes, I was thinking holly might be too overpowering. We have a tree in Sheffield that's HUGE. These gaps are generally pretty small. A small child could probably squeeze through but not a sheep although I don't know after what I've heard of some of your sheep). This hedge is not likely to be a boundary dispute hedge, unlike some of the others as the boundary is shared with a highway, not another property owner so it's a safety/stock enclosure issue.

Itismehonest

rozeepozee wrote: »

At the moment it's mainly very established trees in a more or less single line on a bank. One side is the garden, this side of the bank is about 3 feet high, on the other side is the main busy road and it drops right down into the council ditch about 5 feet or more down. There are some gaps, though not huge ones. I perhaps should take some pics. It doesn't look like a hedgerow, it looks like a straggly collection of neglected old trees! It's very tall and obscures a lovely view of fields and Cardigan Bay in the distance - most inconvenient! Five or six of the trees on this side of the land have just fallen over, they look to be still alive as they're budding but don 't look very healthy and we're going to get rid of them but all the ones in the hedge seem okay, if very tatty, full of lichens, some ivy etc. If we plugged the gaps, the children wouldn't be able to squeeze though. I was thinking of stock fencing it but apart from the expense it's a bit of a logistical nightmare as the tree trunks would get in the way of doing a run of fence. I'm totally bemused.

Alfie, we cross posted - yes, I was thinking holly might be too overpowering. We have a tree in Sheffield that's HUGE. These gaps are generally pretty small. A small child could probably squeeze through but not a sheep although I don't know after what I've heard of some of your sheep). This hedge is not likely to be a boundary dispute hedge, unlike some of the others as the boundary is shared with a highway, not another property owner so it's a safety/stock enclosure issue.

Sorry, I meant what sort of tree, Rozee? Depending on their girth it may be possible to lay some which will fill the gaps & thicken the hedge.

rozeepozee

Itismehonest wrote: »

Sorry, I meant what sort of tree, Rozee? Depending on their girth it may be possible to lay some which will fill the gaps & thicken the hedge.

oh, sorry TBH I haven't really got a clue!!! I feel like such a townie!

Do I need to go up there with a tape measure? They're probably about - wild guess - 20". Like a very slim teenager A few chunkier.

There are lots of willowy catkin type buds up there and I spotted one eucalyptus but the ones in the bank are deciduous and have no leaves, only buds. I'd hazard a guess at silver birch, only because of the clour of the bark. I think there's also some cherry. Sorry to be so vague. I keep going up there intending to log the details of some of them (this hedge is probably about 100 to 150 feet) but it's tricky with all the kids there. I can't wait for them to start nursery next month (bad mother!)

On reflection, it's not a pressing problem as I think we're going to put a large enclosure round the static to keep the kids/hens in and worry about longer term fencing once the building has been done. I was just thinking that, if it's a live boundary I'll be doing, maybe I could get some plants ready for putting in next year.

Itismehonest

OK, not to worry, rozee. It doesn't sound like it was a traditional hedge so laying probably wouldn't work.
I was thinking you may have been able to do something like this (although this is a particularly tidy looking professional one) whilst leaving some of the more mature trees as they are. New shoots then grow vertically from the branches laid horizontally & it thickens up & fills gaps.
Hedges can be gapped-up. It's usually done with whips or saplings of plants that already grow in the hedge but you would need to know what you have there to get an idea of how successful they'd be. e.g. Beech is the usual one used for hedging around here.

alfie_1

ROZEE...i think re a boundary bordering a road v children ,livestock [potentially] i would use stock fencing to be honest.... you can always do a fence line ie.6ft away from hedge so it gives you access to in fill in gaps and give you time to see what is going to happen with the undergrowth. stock fencing is about £50 for 50m. [will check prices. ] posts are about 2-3£. tensioner [which you will find very usefull long term] about 35-50£.
you can always reuse the fencing elsewhere later on . that would actually be cheaper than rigging up electric fencing [if not for chooks etc. just an idea

Davesnave

If there are catkins up there, it's probably hazel rozee.....and we are right at the end of the bare root season, which is the only way to buy them cheaply. Go see what you can dig in your wood. Holly are bloomin' slow, though.

I wouldn't want to erect my own long stock fencing here because of stones. The tractor mounted post basher helps tremendously, but posts have still sometimes smashed, rather than go in. So....know your subsoil. An alternative is to dig out the holes and back fill with a dry, weak cement/ballast mix and water in. I did this in the chook pen. OK for kids & poultry, not sure about sheep.

Which brings me back to post maul versus post bashing tool....no one have a preference?

We have sold all our old part-garden, on our terms, for £20k. :j That will sort out the barn work here.

Alex, sorry about your moggy, and your pekin, alfie.

If you get messages about viruses 'burning your entire hard drive' they are almost certainly nonsense, as they have been doing the rounds for years in various guises, passed on by well-meaning people. However, it is right not to open attachments on unsolicited emails anyway. :cool:

CTC I will send some pots, but later, as I'm a bit frantic with things ATM....and you will not pay for them!!!

That's it. Digger today.......and tomorrow, probably.

rozeepozee

I never thought installing a fence would be such a decision

lostinrates

I would go with stock fencing too rozee. Personally, where we put new fencing in instead of a barbed wire top i want a rail top.

Rails are less security concious, but also less damaging to horses and rugs, which is good for me, and to jeans when you decide to scramble over, good for dh, and while rails fail sooner than wire its an easier home repair, looks smarter, causes less damage.

Another option is stock wire behine rails but with an electrified wire run accros the top. I love this solution, though we probably do not need it here where we put in real fencing.