Hello all!
Firstly.. I'm very new to gardening and need some advise on box hedging.
I just bought a property from a very keen gardener who has spent many years cultivating a lovely box hedge around each vegetable plot. It does look nice but I question if I should keep it? I feel it takes up too much space, it's high maintenance and is a wonderful home for slugs! As I'm new to gardening I don't want to simply get rid of it only to regretting in the future. My question is, would you recommend keeping it? Is this simply an aesthetic thing or is it functional? I've attached some pics.. Any help much appreciated! Steve
Steve James Brown
Posts: 10
Posts
Hi and welcome
Aren't they beautiful
And boy won't your back ache when you have to clip them?
They probably provide a bit of shelter to seedlings, but then your garden doesn't look as if it's very exposed - and as you say they're probably home to gazillions of marauding molloscs - and yes, they do take up a lot of space - but I don't think I could take them out in cold blood - I'd probably send up a silent prayer that they succumb to Box Blight before too long, and then they can be grubbed out with a clear conscience.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thank you for that Dovefromabove (big fan of Vic n Bob)
So deep down Im hoping they will get Blight so I have an excuse to remove!? They do look nice and Ill be sad to see them go but on a practical level?? I cant even get my wheelbarrow between them! Im going to see how it goes but so far I cant see any reason to keep them to be honest
They are wonderful, I would keep them, whatever the consequences.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Hi Steve,
I would dig out the rows of box between 2 beds and move them to the end of those beds, thus making one larger bed. Don't know if that makes sense, hard to describe without a drawing!
If you've got some electric hedge clippers the box borders shouldn't take too long to keep in shape, they are quite pretty.
Neither can I, other than the aesthetic (and as we're painters that tends to override all other considerations here) . Have you seen them covered in snow yet?
They probably contributed at least £5,000 the price you paid for the house.
Maybe, you could leave one plant at each corner and train and clip them into cones and spheres etc - to keep a formal structure in the veg garden - topiary is wonderful in veg gardens
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks All
Maybe you have rebalanced this decision punkdoc, connecting them could be a good option? I get to keep them but make a little more use of the space? Humm... Thanks for that SwissSue!
Good point Dovefromabove, coming from a arty background you would think I would appreciate the aesthetic's but when it comes to Veg...
Regarding the electric hedge cutter and maintenance, I noticed that the box clippings had not broken down in the compost from the previous owner? I'm guessing I would have to 'hoover' it up after cutting right?
The aesthetics of vegetable gardening??? Wonderful - I love the structure of rows and blocks imposed on natural forms. Do try to find a copy of The Plant Kingdoms of Charles Jones - or at least google his photographs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Jones_%28photographer%29 Magic!!!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Maybe something like this (using Swiss Sue's suggestion) would be a happy compromise?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.