I went to see a house a few years ago which was nearly perfect for us. The thing which made it not perfect was a 3m high leylandii hedge (immaculately maintained) running round all 4 borders of the garden. The garden itself was a good size & orientation - but nothing in it except a couple of trees, grass and this damned hedge.
Spent ages umming and aahing over whether I could live with it but decided I couldn't (far too oppressive and high maintenance), then investigated removing it - 2 sides belonged to a neighbour so no-go. Just couldn't face dealing with it so we said no to the house.
But a wall - I'd just love some walls in this garden. Have even considered spending ££££ to have some non - essential ones put in.
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
That hedge is nice and really fits in well with the gardens.
You can have a perfectly thriving border beneath a little privet like that. It doesn't "suck all the moisture", or cast too much shade.
Have a little 12" space at the back of the border that you can walk down to trim the hedge. Get a petrol or modern battery hedge trimmer and it'll be a quick job than you think.
And you know what? If you trim it 3-4x a year, you don't have to bother picking up the cuttings! They're small and will create something of a mulch layer along that little 12" strip.
Have you ever tried to maintain a long fence? It's horrendous thankless work. And when the fence needs replaced 10-15 years later, any idea of the cost?
Well as we were all discussing this topic the estate agent called me and told me that the house with the hedge has sold! She then called back and said it fell through and then a few hours later called again to say it's definately sold!
So that's that! Lol however your posts have certainly given me so much to think about and some different ways of looking at things. I do still have the walled garden to look at on Saturday
And btw I do actually have a walled garden now and thinking about it they also do suck out lots of moisture from the soil just the same as a hedge! They also heat up and get very warm which I find makes the plants wilt very easily in warm weather.
However the difference between my walled garden now and the house I'm viewing is I can make my borders huge if I want to which means all the plants won't all be very close to the wall so won't lose too much moisture. I am in a rented house at the minute and so I can't alter the border size much.
Here is my current garden... I will miss it a lot!
Seems odd that an estate agent would restrict the time allowed for a viewing. We (the company I work for) don't do that. The more time a viewer spends at a property, the more they like it! If they don't, the viewings don't take very long. Not like today, however - got home at 7pm ………….
Craig - plants in pots heat up and dry out faster than plants in a border whether they're against a wall, a fence or a hedge. Assuming you take all your pots with you and can get them in the ground they'll do better.
Concentrate on a house that's good for you and hope to find a garden with potential and boundaries in good state so there's no financial outlay and no bovver with your new neighbours.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
@Obelixx The plants in the pots are the ones that actually don't wilt. It's the ones on the left hand side in the ground, which is the wall that gets most sun that wilt. Every single day this week I have come home to find most of the plants on the left hand side flagging. Even after all that rain we had about a week ago. I don't know of the soil also has anything to do with it as it's quite thin and poor and doesn't have much bulk to it.
So whatever type of garden I do get next the first thing I am going to do is add tons of manure to it to improve the soil
And I actually intend not only to take all the pots but I'm talking almost all the plants too! I'm going to dig them up and divide them and put them into pots and take it all. Anything that's too big I have taken cuttings of.
When we bought our house, only about 5 years ago, we were looking for something that we could extend and put our stamp on. We wanted a decent garden that wasn’t a 45 degree angle like our last house etc. Our wish list was pretty small until we started looking. The more we looked the more it helped us to have a clear idea of what was important. For instance being detached, having a drive, not being too overlooked etc. When we viewed this house, probably our 7th or so (after hours on Rightmove etc), we didn’t love it, there was no ‘feeling’, no moment, no bleary eyed rose tinted smiles at each other! It just ticked all the boxes and there was no reason not to buy it. We have now extended and we love it and cannot think of a singe reason why we would ever want to leave!
be clear about what you want and need! Exciting times! Enjoy it!
If they're your pots, take them regardless. Expensive to replace! Thin dry soil can be improved by adding plenty of well-rotted garden manure and/or garden compost should you have that in your new garden.
Best done in autumn as a generous mulch which will smother weeds and their seeds and you can leave it to the worms to work in for you over winter.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Just wondering, l'm assuming you're renting your current place ? Only reason l ask is that if you were putting it on the market, you need to make clear to the agent and any prospective buyers that you will be taking all pots and most of the plants with you. People assume that what they see in the garden is what they're going to get if they purchase the property.
Posts
Spent ages umming and aahing over whether I could live with it but decided I couldn't (far too oppressive and high maintenance), then investigated removing it - 2 sides belonged to a neighbour so no-go. Just couldn't face dealing with it so we said no to the house.
But a wall - I'd just love some walls in this garden. Have even considered spending ££££ to have some non - essential ones put in.
You can have a perfectly thriving border beneath a little privet like that. It doesn't "suck all the moisture", or cast too much shade.
Have a little 12" space at the back of the border that you can walk down to trim the hedge. Get a petrol or modern battery hedge trimmer and it'll be a quick job than you think.
And you know what? If you trim it 3-4x a year, you don't have to bother picking up the cuttings! They're small and will create something of a mulch layer along that little 12" strip.
Have you ever tried to maintain a long fence? It's horrendous thankless work. And when the fence needs replaced 10-15 years later, any idea of the cost?
Hedge wins.
So that's that! Lol however your posts have certainly given me so much to think about and some different ways of looking at things. I do still have the walled garden to look at on Saturday
And btw I do actually have a walled garden now and thinking about it they also do suck out lots of moisture from the soil just the same as a hedge! They also heat up and get very warm which I find makes the plants wilt very easily in warm weather.
However the difference between my walled garden now and the house I'm viewing is I can make my borders huge if I want to which means all the plants won't all be very close to the wall so won't lose too much moisture. I am in a rented house at the minute and so I can't alter the border size much.
Here is my current garden... I will miss it a lot!
Concentrate on a house that's good for you and hope to find a garden with potential and boundaries in good state so there's no financial outlay and no bovver with your new neighbours.
So whatever type of garden I do get next the first thing I am going to do is add tons of manure to it to improve the soil
be clear about what you want and need! Exciting times! Enjoy it!
Best done in autumn as a generous mulch which will smother weeds and their seeds and you can leave it to the worms to work in for you over winter.