You should add goodies such as garden or bought compost and well rotted manure to the soil to improve it before planting. For an instant screen, erect some trellis panels and grow climbers, or not, at your leisure, or you can put up 6' high fence panels and stretch wires alon,g those on vine eyes screwed to teh fence posts. For a less instant result stretch wires between 6' high fence posts and train climbers along those.
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)."
Thank you all for you help - you've been fantastic! I think I may try to take one or two out to see what happens - I'll pick a little one!
It's not too dark where the hedge is - gets a fair bit of sun (I think...it's been hard to work out so far this year!) so a buddleia may end up there somewhere.
We had a 30 ft high leylandii hedge at the north facing front garden when we moved here. Because the treas had been planted close to a boundary wall, we were advised not to try to take the stumps out, because it could cause damage to the wall.
We had them cut down as close to the ground as possible. We then put in a border edging (about 2 - 3ft away from the wall) and created a "raised" border, in-filling with topsoil, and covering the stumps. Shallow-rooting plants close to the stumps had no problem and other shrubs (wigelia, spirea, hebe and rosa rugosa for example) have found their own space, and settled in very nicely. Interspersed with some easy annuals and freely self-seeding plants (such as poppies and aquilegias) we now have an easily maintained area that has allowed light and air into the front garden.
it will take time for the stumps to rot down - but they are not prone to honey fungus, unlike some trees.
If the trees are as small as you say, all you need is a willing person with a bit of muscle and they could dig them all out in a morning and leave you with clear ground. Then you need a midi-skip for the day, and if there's any space left in it you can throw in any other stuff you don't need.
Hi I have just moved in to a house with very large over grown leylandii. I have started cutting them back and topping them. Where they have been left for years there is a lot of dead branches underneath the green. After reading the comments here I'm in 2 minds to trim back to the trunk, if I do this will the tree be effectively dead and stop taking the goodness from the soil around it?
It wont regrow if that is what you are asking-but the soil around it will be rubbish now with a tree that size-I would be inclined to take the tree down to the ground and even if you can't get the root our use the area for something else
I moved here 2 years ago and front garden was a decent sized square of lawn with no plants at all. I started digging up the lawn and making a spiral border that ultimately will fill the whole space with shingle paths following the spiral shape. Soon after I began I noticed a crop of fungi in a very regular pattern across the lawn. Honey fungus. I was therefore not surprised to find when digging huge fat roots of trees that had been cut down and the roots left. This has resulted in bent forks and a sore back plus the worry about the honey fungus affecting the plants I am putting in. Any thoughts on what plants would be at risk?
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You should add goodies such as garden or bought compost and well rotted manure to the soil to improve it before planting. For an instant screen, erect some trellis panels and grow climbers, or not, at your leisure, or you can put up 6' high fence panels and stretch wires alon,g those on vine eyes screwed to teh fence posts. For a less instant result stretch wires between 6' high fence posts and train climbers along those.
Thank you all for you help - you've been fantastic! I think I may try to take one or two out to see what happens - I'll pick a little one!
It's not too dark where the hedge is - gets a fair bit of sun (I think...it's been hard to work out so far this year!) so a buddleia may end up there somewhere.
We had a 30 ft high leylandii hedge at the north facing front garden when we moved here. Because the treas had been planted close to a boundary wall, we were advised not to try to take the stumps out, because it could cause damage to the wall.
We had them cut down as close to the ground as possible. We then put in a border edging (about 2 - 3ft away from the wall) and created a "raised" border, in-filling with topsoil, and covering the stumps. Shallow-rooting plants close to the stumps had no problem and other shrubs (wigelia, spirea, hebe and rosa rugosa for example) have found their own space, and settled in very nicely. Interspersed with some easy annuals and freely self-seeding plants (such as poppies and aquilegias) we now have an easily maintained area that has allowed light and air into the front garden.
it will take time for the stumps to rot down - but they are not prone to honey fungus, unlike some trees.
Oh, that's a great idea!
Kitty,
If the trees are as small as you say, all you need is a willing person with a bit of muscle and they could dig them all out in a morning and leave you with clear ground. Then you need a midi-skip for the day, and if there's any space left in it you can throw in any other stuff you don't need.
Joe
Hi I have just moved in to a house with very large over grown leylandii. I have started cutting them back and topping them. Where they have been left for years there is a lot of dead branches underneath the green. After reading the comments here I'm in 2 minds to trim back to the trunk, if I do this will the tree be effectively dead and stop taking the goodness from the soil around it?
It wont regrow if that is what you are asking-but the soil around it will be rubbish now with a tree that size-I would be inclined to take the tree down to the ground and even if you can't get the root our use the area for something else
I moved here 2 years ago and front garden was a decent sized square of lawn with no plants at all. I started digging up the lawn and making a spiral border that ultimately will fill the whole space with shingle paths following the spiral shape. Soon after I began I noticed a crop of fungi in a very regular pattern across the lawn. Honey fungus. I was therefore not surprised to find when digging huge fat roots of trees that had been cut down and the roots left. This has resulted in bent forks and a sore back plus the worry about the honey fungus affecting the plants I am putting in. Any thoughts on what plants would be at risk?