Hedge versus Fence

[Alison556]

Sorry if this is a daft question.................but I'll ask it anyway.

My neighbour's hedge is the bane of my life. It's only about four feet high but I'm constantly battling with bloomin weeds growing out of it and when the gardener cuts it, I'm then raking up bits of hedge for ages and it's just a mess.

Now I get on great with my neighbour and I gently approached her feelings about her hedge - and she likes it!

Question is, if I was to erect some kind of panel fence (only to the height of the hedge, I'm not wanting to block her out or cause any trouble), is it likely to give my poor garden some protection from the hedge? I mean, would the hedge be forced to grow away from the fence so that it wouldn't need cut on my side?

 

[oilman]

It might eventually push the fence over. What breed of hedge is it?

 

[Alison556]

It's a privet I think. It looks like it's been there for a very long time - it's very knarled looking. But it's full of weeds and bits of other hedge and trees growing out of it and it's so untidy. I have the urge to chuck a can of petrol over it (but it's too near my kitchen window!! )

I did wonder if the hedge would push the fence over or if it would just grow the easiest way it could - away from the fence.

 

[oilman]

What is "untidy"? Nature is rarely "tidy", and often people will pay a fortune for a cottage garden which is probably "untidy" in many respects. Apart from goose grass which is a bit rampant, I wouldn't worry about the rest, and try to look at it as varying habitat for things to live in. It sounds like you have your own mini-nature reserve, much more interesting than a panel fence.

If your neighbour has a gardener, I'd hint to them that he does both sides and clears away the cuttings. Though my view of woody cuttings is that they're valuable fuel, so they get dried and used later.

 

[Alison556]

I sounded really fussy there, didn't I? No, apart from the lumps of Rowan treet that are growing out of it, it's been a dumping ground for old bricks, rocks, there's rubbish caught under it - it just seems like it's been "don't know what to do with it, let's just shove it under the hedge".

And I do/did have a flower border that's been a nightmare to keep nice because of all the ratty grass that's spreading from the hedge.

I'm not the keenest gardener in the world but I do like things to look nice.

 

[D0nkey]

Have you considered laying a surface membrane on your side of the hedge? This would allow water through, but should stop the weeds getting through. Of course, you would have to hide this either with bark or by planting something manageable in front.

By the way, I really, really, really can't stand privet in a domestic setting, especially when it gets old and scruffy, so I can sympathise. A problem with putting up a fence would be the uncertainty in the future of a less amicable neighbour taking out the hedge and encroaching into your property.

 

[JohnD]

how long and how tall is the hedge? does it encroach over your boundary?

are you fit to dig fence-post holes?

 

[marsaday]

if it privet give it a hard cut on your side. this will straighten it up and make it look neater. they can be cut very hard. you want to be cutting into the wood when doing a hard cut.

 

[Alison556]

Have you considered laying a surface membrane on your side of the hedge? This would allow water through, but should stop the weeds getting through. Of course, you would have to hide this either with bark or by planting something manageable in front.

By the way, I really, really, really can't stand privet in a domestic setting, especially when it gets old and scruffy, so I can sympathise. A problem with putting up a fence would be the uncertainty in the future of a less amicable neighbour taking out the hedge and encroaching into your property.

I've actually done that for half the length of the hedge - part gravel, part slabs. All the crap growing out of it seems to be coming right from the middle of the blooming thing and growing over my side. My neighbours side is tidy! It's obviously bird droppings that's causing a lot of the rogue growing shrubbery - there's parts of my hedge (don't ask me what it is - it's got red berries and small dark green leaves. I did get told the name of it but I can't remember), rowan tree, loads of ratty grass. I did try trimming back some of the unwanted stuff and ended up making a big hole in the hedge (totally unintentionally - honest!) so thought I'd better stop!!

I'm probably just being a moan, but it really is so scruffy looking.

how long and how tall is the hedge? does it encroach over your boundary?

are you fit to dig fence-post holes?

It's about 9 metres long and four and a half feet tall. It's actually totally on my neighbours property - there is evidence of the original, old iron fence that would have divided the properties and it's well on my side, so if I did put a fence up, I could safely have it on my property and not encroach on my neighbour at all. It's just the weeds that are on my side.

And depending on how deep fence post holes need to go, yeah, I could dig them. The only problems I'm likely to encounter are rock and hard clay soil (our houses are on the side of a hill that is allegedly the plug of an extinct volcano if you want to believe the stories) and the main gas pipe which I discovered when I dug 6 inches down into the border!!! Oh, yeah, and the roots of the bloomin hedge!!

If I was to do a fence and found that I couldn't physically dig, are these metal spike things for fence posts any good? I think you drive them into the ground and the posts sit in them.

PostPosted: Wed May 28, 2008 8:25 pm Post Subject:
if it privet give it a hard cut on your side. this will straighten it up and make it look neater. they can be cut very hard. you want to be cutting into the wood when doing a hard cut.

Would it be OK for me to annhilate it when it's not technically on my property?

See, I reckoned if I did put a fence up, I'd not put it higher than the hedge, and chances are, my neighbour wouldn't see it!

 

[JohnD]

if you don't mind concrete posts like these

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=906618#906618

you can put in concrete gravel-boards 6" or 12" deep (the 12" ones are rather heavy). I have let mine an inch or two into the ground, and scooped out a shallow trench for them to sit in, which I filled with concrete. It is resistant to weeds growing under it and you can easily apply a little weedkiller from time to time (most weedkillers kill through the leaves, so if you apply them low down they will not harm the hedge). If you use Pathclear it will prevent seeds germinating for several months, as it leaves a layer on the surface of the soil.

With low concrete posts as shown here, you can easily put in panels or lattice at whim; or leave them open until (unless?) the hedge goes. The hedge will not be able to damage these posts.

p.s. the metal spikes are terrible

 

[D0nkey]

I've actually done that for half the length of the hedge - part gravel, part slabs.

Now forgive me if I'm being unfair, but that doesn't exactly sound tidy either!

When I said membrane, I was thinking of a fabric such as Mypex, which will stop weeds getting through. Gravel won't do the same, and neither will slabs. Take the slabs away and run a strip of mypex all the way up the length of the hedge. And get a skip, pull all the rubbish out and get rid of it. Tell yourself that it will look good, but with a bit of effort.

Then for the hedge itself, speak to the neighbour. It is summertime! So surely you can give all of your side a hard trim. My own property was cursed with the evil privet when I moved in. These hedges could have been up to 60 years old, and a total mess. So I removed them (okay, so I realise you can't do that in this case), but more importantly for you, the privets that I couldn't dig out and just had to cut back to ground level STARTED GROWING AGAIN. Silly me, I felt sorry for one of them, and it even began to look quite smart! Until I stopped feeling sorry for it and got in there with a sharp spade!

 

[Alison556]

Sorry, didn't explain that very well. When we moved into the house, part of the garden was full of huge bushes - it's not an area sitting out in the middle of nowhere or anything - it went from the path on one side of the front door, halfway up the lawn, so it was a big square. I cut down all the bushes which left me with this huge area of mud, so I edged it and laid weed control fabric and gravel to cover it up. I then got one of these little tool stores, which is sitting back to back with the dreaded privet and I laid slabs under it. So there is weed control fabric under it all and it is tidier looking than I can explain (though my slab laying skills aren't as good as they probably could be!!). I'm also figuring on getting someone to lay slabs on that half of the garden and cover it all totally - I'm not skilled enough to lay a huge amount of slabs - I managed 8 without going too much off.

I guess I'd better brace myself and get the loppers out and hack all the junk out and try and tidy it up.

I got part of our own hedge removed a couple of years ago - but the gardeners that did it only chopped it down and never even attempted to shift the roots. I tried it myself and nearly got a hernia! So I've turned it into a raised flower bed!!!!! Stumps are now covered up! And lots of alpines and ground cover plants on.

I really don't like hedges, but I have left my own hedge on one side of the garden for the birds. It has berries on and the birds like it (yeah, I know and I'm complaining about them pooping in the other hedge and causing rogue plants to grow!!)

 

[ModernMaterials]

I also used to have privet hedges and finally decided to get rid cus they were quite hard work.

As you don't have this option, have you considered cutting into the hedge quite hard on your side, to tidy it up somewhat...

bearing in mind that privet will tolerate such cutting and grow back very neatly.

this would also eliminate the need for a gardener to do your side which your neighbour might quite like.