Hedges: to keep or dig out

The_Only_Girl

Hi I am a complete newby to gardening so please pardon my ignorance. My hubby is an asthmatic and hay fever sufferer so gardening is not my his strongest points. He does gardening to an absolute minimum as he reacts quite badly to pollen especially during summer time. That is why most of the time our garden hedges are left to go wild and only manage 2 to 3 trims a year. (Hubby also doesn't trust me with hedge cutter combined with heights).

At present our garden is surrounded by the offending hedges and fence that is falling into bits. This year I would like to focus on the garden as our main project but I am torn between leaving the hedges be and replacing the fence with a sturdier kind, or digging our the hedges and replacing the fences thereby gaining a few more inches of garden space.

Has any of you tried to dig out hedges before? Is it something a newby should even attempt to do? How expensive is it to pay a professional to do it? is it worth doing it?

There are other things that need to be done in the garden like turfing the whole garden, building/making raised beds for vegetable gardening and buying a greenhouse but all these cannot precede the hedges/fences. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

wallbash

our garden is surrounded by the offending hedges

and

combined with heights).

So we are talking a BIG hedge .
I think most gardeners would have controlled hedges in preference to a fence if there was room.

What is the hedge?
Would it survive a severe prune?

A little extra info please.

The_Only_Girl

wallbash wrote: »

and


So we are talking a BIG hedge .
I think most gardeners would have controlled hedges in preference to a fence if there was room.

What is the hedge?
Would it survive a severe prune?

A little extra info please.

Hi Wallbash, thanks for your reply

The hedge is taller than me (I'm a shortie), it's probably 7 feet high or probably more. I don't know what kind of hedge it is, sorry. It's a bushy kind of hedge. did say I am ignorant about gardens. When you say severe prune, how severe is it?

stumpycat

You might find that the hedge pollen does not aggravate your husband's asthma & hay fever, depending on what species are contained in it. If it has obvious flower, e.g berberis or cotoneaster then it is insect pollinated and the pollen tends not to blow about so much as it is heavy & sticky (the pollen 'wants' to get stuck onto a bee and not go up someone's nose!)
Wind-pollinated plants chuck their pollen around all over the place.

I've dug out a very elderly mostly privet hedge before. It is really, really hard work! I only dug it out as I was moving our garden back to the boundary & it was replaced with a mixed native hedge.

One thing to weigh up is what you want your fence/wall/hedge to do. A few major positives for hedges, as well as wildlife, are the effects they have as wind and noise baffles. They really do quieten things down...

wallbash

7 ft hedge , three sides ? will classify that as a big hedge.

When you say severe prune,

Can't recommend until we know the species. Some hedges you can attack and reduce with ease, knowing they will recover. Others will look shocking for years after been attacked.

So we need more info.
Trip to the library for a book ?
Time spent at looking at hedges on Google or you inviting a knowledgeable neighbor in for tea to talk hedges.
Trip to a garden centre with a sample .....might be the way forward.

The_Only_Girl

stumpycat wrote: »

You might find that the hedge pollen does not aggravate your husband's asthma & hay fever, depending on what species are contained in it. If it has obvious flower, e.g berberis or cotoneaster then it is insect pollinated and the pollen tends not to blow about so much as it is heavy & sticky (the pollen 'wants' to get stuck onto a bee and not go up someone's nose!)
Wind-pollinated plants chuck their pollen around all over the place.

He does react to something, because most days especially during the summer, he can't even go out to the garden to hang clothes on the line without him swelling up or having an asthma attack (shall I invest on a bubble suit for him?) :mad:



One thing to weigh up is what you want your fence/wall/hedge to do. A few major positives for hedges, as well as wildlife, are the effects they have as wind and noise baffles. They really do quieten things down...

The major reason why I was contemplating on digging out the hedges is the low maintenance issue as mentioned above and in my previous post.

The_Only_Girl

wallbash wrote: »

7 ft hedge , three sides ? will classify that as a big hedge.


Can't recommend until we know the species. Some hedges you can attack and reduce with ease, knowing they will recover. Others will look shocking for years after been attacked.

So we need more info.
Trip to the library for a book ?
Time spent at looking at hedges on Google or you inviting a knowledgeable neighbor in for tea to talk hedges.
Trip to a garden centre with a sample .....might be the way forward.

Thanks again Wallbash, I will do all of the above, starting with having a chat with my two next door neighbours to see what they will suggest. I will keep you posted

wallbash

two next door neighbours to see what they will suggest.

Doh!

Of course they would have sorted out the problem on their side.
Take their advice, much better than us just guessing.

Might also decide fence/ hedge , the neighbors will have their views AND may claim ownership of their side of BIG hedge.

Mojisola

The_Only_Girl wrote: »

My hubby is an asthmatic and hay fever sufferer so gardening is not my his strongest points. He does gardening to an absolute minimum as he reacts quite badly to pollen especially during summer time.

Not to do with the hedges but has your husband tried taking a spoonful of local honey every day? It certainly reduces some people's reactions to pollen.

Regarding the hedges - once the birds start nesting you shouldn't take out hedges so you may have left things a bit late this year.

Are the hedges on all three sides yours to remove? Don't any of the boundaries belong to your neighbours?

The_Only_Girl

Mojisola wrote: »

Not to do with the hedges but has your husband tried taking a spoonful of local honey every day? It certainly reduces some people's reactions to pollen. He has tried it but not consistently. Maybe a bit of encouragement will help? (aka nagging???)

Regarding the hedges - once the birds start nesting you shouldn't take out hedges so you may have left things a bit late this year.

Oh didn't know about that. We learn something new everyday, eh? I haven't notice any nesting although it could be because they're behind the fence. I wouldn't want the birds to be homeless :A

Are the hedges on all three sides yours to remove? Don't any of the boundaries belong to your neighbours?

One of the sides belongs to my neighbour and it is in such poor state. .

Thanks for your reply.

moneyistooshorttomention

Assuming the hedges are yours (ie got put in by previous owner of your house) then just get a mini-digger in. A few hours of a man and his mini-digger and job done.

I was wondering what to do about hedge type stuff there in my garden. Put in by previous owners of my house, so definitely mine okay thankfully to do with as I please and that was it. Found the man and his digger = sorted.