Conifer planting

[Gillstay]

Nope, only fast growing conifers grow fast. My car mechanic asked for good advice and had the sense to plant a slow growing conifer, so he trims it once every two years ! 20yrs later he has only trimmed it 10 times !

 

[PK99]

I'm with the consensus - avoid conifers esp leylandii. Quick growing but a nightmare of hard work to control after a few years and such life from the soil around.

Yew is by far the best hedging plant.

Whatever you plant, there are three things to bear in mind:
1. Preparation.
2. Preparation.
3. Preparation.

1. Dig a trench 30cm deep.
2. Break up the base and incorporate well rotted manure.
3. Ideally, but depending on the quality of your soil, remove the excavated soil and replace with high quality top soil mixed with organic material/soil improver.
4. Plant into that trench.

Hard work but you won't regret it.

If you need a decent number of plants find a local trade hedging nursery, they will be happy to deal with bulk order. It's cash they are after! No need to pay retail price! You will be astonished at the saving.

Best planting height is 1m. Good compromise between instant impact, cost and speed of growth.

Keep well watered for first 2 growing seasons, then unless drought occasional soaks should be enough.

 

[KnittyNorah]

Yew is by far the best hedging plant.

You can't be so prescriptive - it depends. Yew is a simply terrible hedging plant if any stock are likely to get access to it.
My preference for an evergreen hedge would usually be holly - a deterrent to intruders and wonderful for wildlife, but again it depends ...

 

[Chief Broom]

My choice for a barrier which doesn't need to be dense would be an apple or pear espalier. yes i know it would take a few years to establish but worth it long term. Good for neighbourly relations too! i trained up a thornless black berry farther along and told Fred my neighbour to help himself and he would make a black berry/ apple crumble.

 

[Dave7]

Just to agree you dont want conifers, they grow like wildfire and cost a fortune if you want to get rid of them as well. Plus you'll be spending all your spare time and money trimming them down.
I'd get a fence, job done.

Why didn't YOU warn ME of that 30 years ago.
Cost me a fortune in clipping/cutting back over the years.

 

[PK99]

Why didn't YOU warn ME of that 30 years ago.
Cost me a fortune in clipping/cutting back over the years.

Leylandii?

 

[bikingdad90]

@Mr. Cow before you go and plant anything it is worth checking your deeds to see if fences or hedges are prohibited? We can’t put either in our front garden.

 

[PK99]

You can't be so prescriptive - it depends. Yew is a simply terrible hedging plant if any stock are likely to get access to it.
My preference for an evergreen hedge would usually be holly - a deterrent to intruders and wonderful for wildlife, but again it depends ...

You are right of course in any location where farm livestock are present.

But Holly is a (literal) pain to maintain and growth is slow.

 

[Sterlo]

As others have said, NO, NO, NO to conifers. We were the same, moved from a house with no garden to quite a large garden with lots of trees, mainly conifers. I've then spent the last 3 years taking most of them out (8 removed to date), with still more to do. Plant something more manageable or put a fence up.

 

[alicat]

Congrats on getting a garden @Mr. Cow. Hope you enjoy it

 

[Alex321]

You are right of course in any location where farm livestock are present.

But Holly is a (literal) pain to maintain and growth is slow.

TBH, I also wouldn't want to risk yew if you have small children (or grandchildren). They are nearly as likely to put bits of it in their mouth as livestock would be.

Absolutely agree about not conifers in general, and many of the other suggestions are good.

 

[JoeyB]

As above.....stay away from conifers.
We have a large garden and planted them around 2 sides.
(One of) the worst decisions we ever made ........for all the above reasons.

Our neighbour has done the same on the edge of his garden that borders with us, they are a ballache as they constantly need cutting back (we can no longer slide our fence panels out) and the roots are a nightmare, I'm worried they will push our patio up eventually.

 

[Dave7]

Leylandii?

Yep

 

[Tail End Charlie]

Some great suggestions here, I'd agree with them all, depending on the situation.
Can I add escallonia, beautiful evergreen, stands clipping, bees and butterflies love it and a range of blossom colours (from white, through pink to a deep red).
I think you've probably got the message by now, but I'll say in any case - not conifers, especially leylandii, which is what everyone means.

 

[ianbarton]

I think you've probably got the message by now, but I'll say in any case - not conifers, especially leylandii, which is what everyone means.

Luckily Leylandii has very shallow routes. If you have access to a HiMac you can just pull them out of the ground.