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Planting a hedge and fence by a wall

simosimpsonsimosimpson Posts: 3
in Plants
I’ve recently bought a house with a back garden that slopes downhill. The photo below shows the boundary between our garden (uphill) and our neighbour at the bottom of the garden (downhill). This apparently single skin brick retaining wall is leaning over slightly, but not by much.

I would ideally like to plant a hedge along this boundary, with a post and wire fence in the short term. Having spoken to my neighbour, he has concerns about the posts pushing the wall further over (there would presumably be very little wind loading with only wires running between posts) and is a little concerned about the roots of the hedge attacking the wall too.

Can anyone offer ideas or advice? If the hedge grows quickly and thickly enough (3-5 years), I could manage without the wire fence.

Any help would be gratefully received.




Posts

  • DampGardenManDampGardenMan Posts: 1,054
    Could you put a post and wire fence in to mark the boundary (as you say there's not going to be much wind-loading) and then plant a hedge for privacy further up? You could use the space between the hedge and fence for, e.g., compost heaps or storing "stuff".
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Ideally a hedge or fence would be better on the downhill side of the wall.   Maybe you could offer to go halves with them on the price and labour, or even pay for and look after it yourself if they would agree to have it planted on their side of the boundary.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • DampGardenManDampGardenMan Posts: 1,054
    How long are the two gardens?
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    It would be easier if you could persuade your neighbour to let you put the posts their side (which would help to keep the wall upright) with a wire fence sitting at the top of the wall. Then plant the hedge your side at least 3 ft away from the wall to allow for its spread and there should be no problems (unless you choose leylandii!). It does mean though that your neighbour will have to keep their side trimmed if they want to.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • simosimpsonsimosimpson Posts: 3
    DampGardenMan said:
    How long are the two gardens?
    My garden is around 20m (65ft). The neighbour’s must be similar.

    Thanks so far for everyone’s suggestions. The posts on the neighbour’s side of the wall in particular might work, although I’m unsure that he would be keen.

    My current idea is to set the posts relatively deep (on my side), in concrete, tied into the wall. The concrete might serve to strengthen the wall in these locations.

    In terms of hedging plants, I’m considering hawthorn/quickthorn or beech. The former species seem to be good for wildlife and creating a good solid hedge relatively quickly.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Having looked at your photo again, I believe that if that is a single brick depth wall, it is not strong enough to hold back the soil on your side and sooner or later the wall will fail.
    If it's already leaning, then it is going to be sooner. I think I might be right in saying that the wall probably belongs to your neighbour as his land gains the benefit of having the upper soil held back. If that is so,  you cannot tie into his wall without his permission and if you do anything that endangers his wall, you will be held responsible. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, I do appreciate this is a difficult situation for you.  I would abandon the post and fence idea (unless you have dogs or children) and just plant your hedge well back from the wall. The hedge roots will help to stabilise the soil.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • simosimpsonsimosimpson Posts: 3
    Lizzie27 said:
    Having looked at your photo again, I believe that if that is a single brick depth wall, it is not strong enough to hold back the soil on your side and sooner or later the wall will fail.
    If it's already leaning, then it is going to be sooner. I think I might be right in saying that the wall probably belongs to your neighbour as his land gains the benefit of having the upper soil held back. If that is so,  you cannot tie into his wall without his permission and if you do anything that endangers his wall, you will be held responsible. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, I do appreciate this is a difficult situation for you.  I would abandon the post and fence idea (unless you have dogs or children) and just plant your hedge well back from the wall. The hedge roots will help to stabilise the soil.
    Sounds like good advice, thank you. I agree that a single skin of brickwork at six courses high isn’t high enough, although we could only strengthen this by buttressing on the neighbour’s land (unless the wall was rebuilt), so it’s essentially his choice.

    I’m currently discussing the options with him, so we’ll see how it goes!
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