English yew hedge spacing.

bris

I am about to plant an English yew hedge, it will border my garden and a main road. They will be bare root plants about 1.5 foot high, the spacing is recommended at 18 inches apart which is ok .
The thing I need to know is if the spacing per plant is 18 inches, does that mean I can keep the hedge 9 inches from the road. I want to keep it relatively narrow but don't want it so it's growing out into the main road in 3 or 4 years. Can anyone who has an established yew hedge let me know what distance from the kerb they recommend for keeping it off the road.
Thanks in advance.

lostinrates

bris wrote: »

I am about to plant an English yew hedge, it will border my garden and a main road. They will be bare root plants about 1.5 foot high, the spacing is recommended at 18 inches apart which is ok .
The thing I need to know is if the spacing per plant is 18 inches, does that mean I can keep the hedge 9 inches from the road. I want to keep it relatively narrow but don't want it so it's growing out into the main road in 3 or 4 years. Can anyone who has an established yew hedge let me know what distance from the kerb they recommend for keeping it off the road.
Thanks in advance.

I am not sure, but i thought new hedges and fences had to be put one metre back from the road edge now?

Davesnave

You don't need planning permission for planting a hedge, or any other kind, unless you live where there's a restrictive covenant (usually open plan estates.) You would only fall foul of County Hall if the hedge blocked the view at an important place for visibility, like a junction.

However, as lir says it would be a good idea not to plant so close to the road, or it might be a nightmare maintaining it. Also, you should bear in mind that lorry bodies will probably hit it at that sort of distance and spray from road salt won't do it a lot of good either!

I don't know how high you intend to grow the hedge, but 18" thickness sounds a bit thin to me. I'm planting yew ATM and I expect mine to grow about 2.2m high and around 70cm thick.

SailorSam

This is from 'Hedges Direct' website, check that for spacing,

Prices shown are the price per plant. Planting distances are very much a matter of choice - for bare roots, 3 plants per metre is adequate, 5 is good, 7 in a double staggered row will give a dense hedge quicker. Generally, smaller plants should be planted at higher density. Cell grown should be planted at 4 per metre in a single row or ideally 6 per metre in a staggered row. Planting densities for pot grown (which vary by pot size) and root ball (which vary by height) are shown below but again you can vary these depending on your budget and level of patience. See also our Advice section on Planting Density on the right hand side of our website.

bris

SailorSam wrote: »

This is from 'Hedges Direct' website, check that for spacing,

Prices shown are the price per plant. Planting distances are very much a matter of choice - for bare roots, 3 plants per metre is adequate, 5 is good, 7 in a double staggered row will give a dense hedge quicker. Generally, smaller plants should be planted at higher density. Cell grown should be planted at 4 per metre in a single row or ideally 6 per metre in a staggered row. Planting densities for pot grown (which vary by pot size) and root ball (which vary by height) are shown below but again you can vary these depending on your budget and level of patience. See also our Advice section on Planting Density on the right hand side of our website.

I saw that on hedges direct, but they have the same info for all the hedges, so not just relevant to yew. The other sites that I looked at all say between 18 and 24 inches 18 being the minimum for yew. Before I placed the order the resident expert told me that 18 is is maybe a bit to close together and If I want it about 6 feet then 24 would be good enough. I am keeping it 4 feet so decided on 18.
I did forget to ask about the distance from the road but my thinking was, if they are 18 apart then they would meet in the middle at 9. I think that will be to near though so have decided on 18.
1 metre would be a no go as it would leave far to much room on the road side, the hedge will be kept narrow so it would just look silly having all that room, and defeat the purpose of it's intension.
The reason I am planting it is to stop cars coming up into my kerb to squeeze past when they meet a truck coming the other way, something they dint need to do with a bit of patience (the road slightly narrows at my boundary). They could still get up on the kerb if the hedge is a metre in so I want it tight to the road without going out into it.