Getting rid of giant hedge

[lamby12]

We have a nice ish garden, lots of potential but we've really not reached it yet. Funny shape, lots of weird paths, steps, rockeries and nooks and crannies. At first I liked its character but it's a lot of work and really doesn't give any function at the moment, it's just a dump we fight with every year and vow to get it sorted by the next.

Over the last few years we've had a baby and an extension; both of which have taken their toll on the garden (lack of time and money).

We want to really use the garden rather than being slaves to it, all we do is fight back massive hedges and bushes and never have any time to create areas we can actually use or plant a few nice pots etc.

The main culprit is the whole garden is lined with giant conifers, approx 30-35 metres worth and 2.5metres high. At least a metre deep. Takes us weeks each year to cut it back and still looks a pigs ear. Quotes over £300 to have it trimmed for us and we really can't spend that on a hedge, we've a long list of other house and garden stuff to do as we save money. However, we're thinking of bumping the hedge up the priority list but to get it all ripped out, including the bushes that sprawl out of it, and put a fence up. We'll gain a metre of garden all the way round and less maintenance.

Does anyone have any experience of this and was it a success or a mistake? I'm worried about losing character and greenery from the garden. It's not a square and still lots else going on so it won't be like a box, just wondering if anyone has done such a drastic move? And any ideas on cost?

Thanks!

I can't answer your questions, but just wanted to say - it would be best to wait now because bird nesting season has begun.

I came on to say exactly the same! You'd be better lining it to do it in the autumn.

Yes, the birds will need it for a bit now.
I wouldn't take out an entire hedge for that reason. You could tidy up next winter and leave a third of it?

What a shame you want to rip it out, I bet lots of wildlife is dependent on it. Fenced gardens are one of the reasons hedgehogs will soon be extinct.

You'll need to wait now, but it gives you lots of time to get quotes and plan. For what it's worth, we've put in a hedge in order to rip out the fence once it grows as we're sick of rotting posts and constant painting. Maybe we're both thinking the grass is greener! 😁

Useful to know @lightningstrikes. I think part of the problem is it's become a beast (we measured and it's over 1.5m deep actually)

Last year it was cut right back by my dad. It was so far back it was brown for 6 months but the last 6 months it's grown back like wildfire and feels bigger than ever. There's no stopping it!

Thanks for the input from others around bird nesting season, I wasn't aware of that so we will wait in that case.

However I'm not keeping the hedge solely for the birds forever, sorry... we're surrounded by farmland and woodlands and we have many massive trees and bushes in the garden, they won't be wiped out if this hedge goes!
I pay for my house so if I don't want almost 35sq metres taken up by a hedge, and the best part of a month of all our spare time once a year cutting it back.. the birds won't stop me!

X

I understand hedges are a fair amount of work. We have them and spend a lot of time cutting them back!

If the conifers are fast growing ones, I would switch them for a slower growing hedge. Personally I hate fence panels aesthetically and because they are rubbish for wildlife as they prevent wildlife like hedgehogs moving between gardens for food.

Hedges are just so much better. Also £300 a year is cheaper than new fence panels every ten years with paint jobs in between.

Switch them for laurels or something like that.
Slow growing, nice and leafy, a skin every year with the clippers.
Our garden sounds similar to yours and even though it can be beautiful it is too much work so everything needs to be simplified

You'll need the roots digging out.

But the choice isn't hedge OR evil wildlife hating wasteland!

You could take out the hedge in the autumn, replace with a fence (with hedgehog hole and then add in wildlife friendly trees shrubs and plants as well.

I'm not a fan of solid conifer hedges. They don't offer any food for birds, and only a bit of habitat. And they do go horribly brown when you cut into them.

But yes, now is not really a good time to cut down a hedge - unfortunately you've just missed that.

We had a 100ft long hedge that was 7ft wide in places, made up of all sorts of bushes/trees, some of which were rotten. It cost us £400 to have it cut back, and it was no better for it. When my husband trimmed it, it took over a fortnight to do, and still looked bad. We had it taken out; it gave us more garden and more light in the house. We had a fence put up in place. No regrets at all. We grow climbers along the fence - even had some runner beans last year.

Conifers are pretty horrible in gardens. They grow hugs and the shade kills off grass and other plants. They also suck up a lot of water.

You could replace them with a hawthorn or Hazel hedge which are usually much easier to mange as well as being native plants.

For our 10m x 1.5m hedge, £1000 at mates rates (landscaper mate with all the right tools). Most of the cost is removing the cuttings as it will take a lot of trips to the tip/even more cost if we get a skip. Includes removal of stumps and digging a trench to be backfilled with new top soil as leylandii destroy the soil nutrients.

Needless to say, that project is on hold!

Nesting season is usually Feb/March to August, by the way. So you could plan now to rip it out later, and maybe dig in some manure/compost before you replant.

Non-native conifer hedges aren't all that great for wildlife in general, although birds will roost/nest in them. I'd plan to take the whole thing out at the end of the nesting season, and replace with a variety of other more slow-growing ornamental flowering shrubs.

Is there a fence behind the hedge, or some other boundary?

Not exactly the same situation as you, but I had a strip of land which was the other side of my side fence.
It blew down last year (thank you Storm Robert and rotten fence posts!)
I bit the bullet and decided to get the fence moved to enclose it all.
Once that was done, I dug out about 20 shrubs and had to remove over a wheel bin full of assorted rubbish (bags of dog shit , broken glass, food wrappers - you name it).
It took a long time, but I don't regret it for a second.
I've now gained a storage area, (with a new path to it) and a larger flower bed at one side. I've put in nearly a hundred perennial plants of different types!
It's so much better, and has given me back the pleasure in my garden.
Go for it!

When you get the hedge taken out make sure they stump grind it deeply and then get 3-4 tonne bags of compost and dig it (or rotavator) it in as the soil will be really awful. The stump grinding will probably add £100-200 but is so worth it.

What is the benefit of stump grinding didireallysaythat ? I had heard about honey fungus but I'm not sure.

@17Days in the OPs case they are going to have 35 m of border with stumps and roots in (digging out stumps is hard work and usually leaves stuff behind). If you get them ground out and mix good soil/compost in you get fluffy soil you can actually plant in. We took out leylandi that surrounded our last house (a tree every metre as it was a hedge) and planted fruit trees which romped off as digging holes really big enough was so easy (it's really easy to dig a hole just big enough for the roots when it's better to generous..)

Our neighbours did this and paid someone to rip them up and put a fence in. Looks so much better now

We had massive leylandii and getting rid was the best thing we did. We gained 2m of garden all along the perimeter and so much light. The first evening I freaked out about the lack of privacy compared to before but were now getting round to planting up and will have the chance to make the space work better.

didireallysaythat cheers.

Can't really type right now due to living room shrouded in darkness

I'm not a fan of conifers in domestic gardens at all. They look great in forests but are a massive pain in a a garden.
That said, I'm a big fan of hedges. Native plants such as Hawthorn make lovely, inexpensive, quick growing hedges, provide habitat for wildlife and are pretty easy to control.
I'm any case, before you spend any more money, maybe pay a professional gardener to come over and give you some advice as to how get the best out of your garden. I offer this service and it almost always saves people time and money.

How do you look after hawthorn, Bobbi73?

Complete experience of this. We had a conifer hedge for years. About 60 foot in length, 10 foot high, needed cutting twice a year and was a pain in the arse.

We had it ripped out a couple of years ago and replaced with a fence. It's the best thing we ever did. More light in the house, no more getting it cut, perfect. Most I will do this year is put preservative on the fence.

We have gone further and had all the grass, borders and bushes removed from the back garden, so next to no maintenance, apart from removing the odd weed from the gravel.

It all makes life easier and I'm not a slave to the garden. Just mow the grass on the front and side in under an hour and job done.

Can spend the rest of the time enjoying the space drinking chilled wine in the sun. How sophisticated!! 🤔