Putting in a hedge

[thirteenbooks]

I'm in need of some ideas as to how to screen a 6m boundary - pic attached. Long story short - fence was rotten, lent on it today and er, went through it.

I'd rather have something living, so want to take the other panel out and put in a hedge. Have been googling for over an hour and still have no idea where to start. .

The area in front is about to become a veg patch with raised beds (where the chippings are), so I don't want anything that becomes too deep. Ideally would like to hide next doors shed as well.

That bit of garden gets light all day. I quite like the idea of having something the birds and insects will enjoy, but open to anything that isn't a conifer (I'm sensitive to them).

Any suggestions?

Have a look at Ashridge trees. They do a pack of edible hedges.

Any hedge will love that rich veg bed soil in front of it! And anything that needs frequent cutting will be difficult to get to if you've got veg growing in front of it. I would suggest espaliered fruit trees, or putting up wires and growing berries or a grape vine.

I find hiding a shed completely isn't necessary - a good solution is to simply bring the focus of the eye nearer. So if you have a network of fruit tree or vine branches, your eye will settle on that and not on the shed.

I remember visiting a walled village in a rural mountainous part of Portugal - stunningly beautiful - astonished when I looked at my photos that it was surrounded by windfarms. I hadn't noticed them at all. The brain can miss an awful lot.

Are you on good terms with the neighbour? If so you could whitewash or greenwash the shed and possibly grow some climbers on it Honeysuckle and or rosa rugosa would be nice. Agree with ' Mere about the difficulty of reaching a hedge behind your veg. bed maybe you could put a 'path' along the back edge of it to get to it.

Viburnum opulus, the Guelder rose. It's native, flowers in spring/early summer, big red berries and the leaves goes a fantastic colour in autumn. Can be pruned back hard if necessary. And it doesn't get used enough IMO.

Thank you all!

@Drizzzle - the edible hedges look amazing. Maybe a but slow growing for what I'm after, but I've a few other places they could find a home!

@MereDintofPandiculation and @ppeatfruit - good point about getting to the hedge, and the path! The Rosa rugosa looks beautiful.

@yamadori - that viburnum is gorgeous! Also have discovered that viburnum is not the plant I always thought it was!

The Rosa rugosa looks beautiful. It's vigorous and flops forward to make a wide hedge. Greenfinches enjoy the fruit. I wouldn't put it behind your veg bed, but if you have the space for it, it does make a nice hedge. I have a mixture of pink and white flowers, and it's entwined with honeysuckle.

Also have discovered that viburnum is not the plant I always thought it was! There's lots of vibrunums. Evergreen and deciduous, small insignificant flowers, and flowers with big showy bracts, red berries and black.

thirteen If you replaced your fencing with an open wired one (like a sports field one) You can train honeysuckle and the rose you choose along it I'm doing it and the HS grows fast and doesn't mind being trained at all. it's nearly covered the fence in 2 years!

My neighbours are not very sympathetic . I want to screen them out but in a controlled way .

The roots of your hedge plants will likely go into your vegetable garden and take a lot of the nutrients away, so you'd better off with a fence tbh.

get a gin hedge!

www.hopesgrovenurseries.co.uk/shop/mixed-native/gin-makers-hedge-mix-mixed-native/

Hypatia Veg need feeding anyway, and watering a lot! Which is why I don't grow them! I lie, we've got a self seeded marrow plant right by our kitchen door near the compost bin and it's growing well! But I didn't plant it!

@thirteenbooks There are a lot of different varieties of viburnum, the most common one is viburnum tinus, which is probably the one you are thinking of.

Edible hedging looks great.

Espalier eating or crab apple trees - would tie in with the veg patch theme. Blossom, fruit and (crab) stunning autumn colour.

I have tree trunks in place of a fence in my garden.
I like them, we get mushrooms growing on them and various types of insects burrow into them and make their nests