Privacy screening

[Cpd]

1 minute ago, Hecateh said:

The norm being a lorry.   

@Hecateh fortunately for me i have a network of friends and businesses that know i just love to up cycling as a first option rather than just going out and buying new, every time a couple of the local builders merchants do stock takes they put damaged stuff aside for me, its all approved by the management and i am always very greatful. I have done so many quirky projects  that i could not have justified without free materials, i get everything from windows to paving slabs. Love the challenge of using randome materials and it saves it going in land fill. 

[Jeremy Harris]

Thanks for all the good ideas.  For the top I think I'll run the DPM over it and add a pitched cap of larch, like the house cladding (I have loads left over, in long boards), with a bit of an overhang to help keep the other side dry.  It should be easy enough to just run the electric plane along the top of the planks to put a bevel on it, doesn't need to be much, just enough to shed water.

 

As far as drainage goes, that#s easy, as I'm just going to use the existing big hole in the middle, where the power pole used to be, as a soakaway.  I have loads of rubble left over, so will fill the hole with it and put a layer along the base to make sure that drains  well across to the soakaway.  There's always water in the bottom of that hole, that goes up and down in level as the stream over the road rises and falls, so it must be hydraulically connected.  The top of the hole is at least half a metre above the highest stream level we've ever seen, so it should always drain, no matter what.

 

The suns coming out now, so it looks like I shall be clambering around in the mud again today, armed with a roll of left over DPM and a staple gun................

[Onoff]

Think I'd take the top planks off and run through a table saw to bevel. Or buy new plane blades when they catch that angle!  

[Yzzy]

oohh glad I looked in here.. I am loving the fedge! http://www.thewillowbank.com/living-willow-structure-products/buy-living-willow-hedge-fence/

[lizzie]

4 minutes ago, Vision Of Heaven said:

oohh glad I looked in here.. I am loving the fedge! http://www.thewillowbank.com/living-willow-structure-products/buy-living-willow-hedge-fence/

I’ve used living willow in the past and it is amazing and it would suit my new garden very well but sadly I developed a severe allergy to willows a few years ago so its a no no for me.

 

Envy you if you can use it. It looks fabulous.

 

If you have willows growing around wet areas near you go and cut branches stick them in the ground and make yout own fedge for nothing but your time.  Any old willow stick will sprout which is what makes them a nightmare to get rid of if you have them and dont want them LOL

[Yzzy]

One of my favorite trees is Willow, my eldest bought me a sapling last year... I love Pussy Willow too...

 

Allergy to the sap / flower ? How awful :-( 

[Jeremy Harris]

6 hours ago, Onoff said:

Think I'd take the top planks off and run through a table saw to bevel. Or buy new plane blades when they catch that angle!  

 

 

I'm inclined to take them off to put the bevel on, but sadly I haven't yet finished the table saw, it's yet another unfinished project waiting for me to get enthused enough to resurrect it.

 

14 minutes ago, Vision Of Heaven said:

One of my favorite trees is Willow, my eldest bought me a sapling last year... I love Pussy Willow too...

 

Allergy to the sap / flower ? How awful :-( 

 

Willows grow like weeds here, I'm forever pulling willow saplings out of everywhere, including the lawn.  We're right by a stream, that has willow growing all along it's banks, so our garden gets a constant flow of seeds.  What's amazing is how quickly a seed grows into a sapling that has roots going down to the centre of the earth.  Digging out any sapling more than a couple of feet high is a major job, as the main root will probably go down as deep as the sapling is high.

[lizzie]

@Vision Of HeavenAllergic to all things willow......I had massive 40ft+ high ones in stands of 4 or 5 along my riverbank and going back into my woodland. I must have had 40 or 50 all together.

 

Many years ago when I was first planting out my native woodland on a piece of rubbish flood plain all I had to start with was a dozen or so self seeded willows so I used to leave fallen boughs on the ground (great for insect habitat) and they would sprout up and make wonderful screens on their own.

 

As my health condition progressed I became allergic to them big time. When they flowered it was a snowstorm. There were weeks when I could not go into my garden even with a mask. For a gardener it was very difficult. I am now allergic to so many things life is different and part of the reason for the new house was to be healthy. Life in a bubble!  I need to choose my new garden plants with extreme care so many options now closed to me.

 

I agree willows are beautiful, and wondefully versatile , enjoy them for me. 

[Jeremy Harris]

6 hours ago, Onoff said:

Think I'd take the top planks off and run through a table saw to bevel. Or buy new plane blades when they catch that angle!  

 

 

Just had an idea.  If I nail a roofing batten on the inside edge at the top, over the DPM, and set it a bit higher than the planks, then I can get a pitch with no real effort.  I could also make the larch planks that I'm going to use as capping a bit wider, so they overhang inside and hide the metalwork.  Might even make the planks last longer, a bit like the principle of a lot of the old chalk cob walls around here.  They traditionally were topped with pitched thatch, to keep rain out of the chalk cob at the top and deflect it well away from the walls.  It's a pity, but many of them now have cement tile pitched "roofs" instead of thatch.  Spoils the look.

[SteamyTea]

On 2/9/2018 at 08:23, Hecateh said:

I meant fallen off the back of a ....................  The norm being a lorry.

I got it first read though, but Morgan don't make lorries, just wooden cars

[Yzzy]

On 2/9/2018 at 16:42, JSHarris said:

 

 

I'm inclined to take them off to put the bevel on, but sadly I haven't yet finished the table saw, it's yet another unfinished project waiting for me to get enthused enough to resurrect it.

 

 

Willows grow like weeds here, I'm forever pulling willow saplings out of everywhere, including the lawn.  We're right by a stream, that has willow growing all along it's banks, so our garden gets a constant flow of seeds.  What's amazing is how quickly a seed grows into a sapling that has roots going down to the centre of the earth.  Digging out any sapling more than a couple of feet high is a major job, as the main root will probably go down as deep as the sapling is high.

 

Oh heck well seeing as I am already facing major issues with the 'old' house and figs I'll keep my willow in a large tub! lol

[Yzzy]

On 2/9/2018 at 16:48, lizzie said:

@Vision Of HeavenAllergic to all things willow......I had massive 40ft+ high ones in stands of 4 or 5 along my riverbank and going back into my woodland. I must have had 40 or 50 all together.

 

Many years ago when I was first planting out my native woodland on a piece of rubbish flood plain all I had to start with was a dozen or so self seeded willows so I used to leave fallen boughs on the ground (great for insect habitat) and they would sprout up and make wonderful screens on their own.

 

As my health condition progressed I became allergic to them big time. When they flowered it was a snowstorm. There were weeks when I could not go into my garden even with a mask. For a gardener it was very difficult. I am now allergic to so many things life is different and part of the reason for the new house was to be healthy. Life in a bubble!  I need to choose my new garden plants with extreme care so many options now closed to me.

 

I agree willows are beautiful, and wondefully versatile , enjoy them for me. 

 

That's sad but I totally get the sudden allergy to things, it's not just joints that mess up as the years tick on!!

 

I am ADD so have a natural go-go-go in me that never wants to stop-stop-stop but my body gets to a certain point as says FFS NO MORE! and I end up walking like a 98 year old with soiled knickers for 24 hours while I heal!!! Youth is SO wasted on the young! 

[SteamyTea]

Someone on GQT was asking about hedging.

As usual, they could not agree.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qp2f

 

But the best program toady, apart from the Archers, was The Food Program.

It was about Charlie Hicks.  He had the most complained about radio show in the 1990's, bloody hero.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09r3qv0

[Ferdinand]

9 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Someone on GQT was asking about hedging.

As usual, they could not agree.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qp2f

 

But the best program toady, apart from the Archers, was The Food Program.

It was about Charlie Hicks.  He had the most complained about radio show in the 1990's, bloody hero.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09r3qv0

 

Q: should Greg Wallace have been marooned on veg talk?

[daiking]

Not worth another thread. What would be the cheapest/quickest way to cover a 2 fence panel gap? Shown here. 

 

Would only be needed for a couple of years.

Edited March 23, 2018 by daiking

[Jeremy Harris]

I reckon you probably have to trade "cheap" versus "quick".  My limited research has shown that "instant" hedging is fast growing, cheap initially, but expensive in the long term because it needs constant and regular pruning.  Buying larger, mature, hedging is relatively cheap if it's a fast-growing species, but very expensive if it's something slow growing that needs little attention;

 

As an example, I've been trying to buy some holly trees.  Small ones, around 300 to 400mm high are cheap, ones around 2m high are well over £100 each, 3m high are over £300.  I've been quoted between £600 and £1200 for 3.5 to 4m high holly standards.  The reason is they grow very slowly, great for low maintenance, but not good for the wallet!

 

Some of the laurels are reasonable, not especially cheap, but not overly expensive either, and some grow relatively slowly, so don't need constant trimming.

 

I found that going to visit a good tree/hedge nursery that mainly supplies the trade was the best thing I did.  We got lots of really good advice, could wander around acres of trees and hedging plants and see first hand what they looked like.  Well worth doing, IMHO.  In fact the lady from Landford Trees (highly recommended for anyone around our area, in my view) has just left an hour or two ago, having dropped off a load of trees that are going to be planted on Monday.  They won't take any payment until after the trees have been planted and are seen to be OK, either, something I found a very pleasant surprise.  Plus deliver for a truck load of big trees was only £10.

[daiking]

I’m looking for something cheap that wont take much room but will cover the gap later this summer (not asking much, lol). 

 

Maintenance wise not bothered, I’ll hack them back when needed. It’s just that when everything else springs to life in the next week or so it will be the only part that is left open. Until last year the brambles did a great job but I cut them back to the ground and now some of the houses on that side will look down onto our patio.

 

if I can plant a 3ft leylandi now and it be a 6ft tree by the autumn I would be happy.

Edited March 23, 2018 by daiking

[Jeremy Harris]

There are some slightly better varieties of Leylandii around now, I've been told. Worth asking about, as the traditional sort tend to go bare at the base if left for just a little bit too long before trimming, and never regrow down there, but the lady at the tree place told me that there were two or three species that were a lot better and around the same sort of price.  If I get time later I'll try and go through their list (sadly it's only available as a PDF download) and see if I can recognise their names.

[lizzie]

1 hour ago, daiking said:

I’m looking for something cheap that wont take much room but will cover the gap later this summer (not asking much, lol)

I would go for Photinia red robin. You can buy biggish ones for not many £’s they grow quickly can be cut easily, can be trained into a shape or left to be hedge, they look nice too.

[Jeremy Harris]

Funnily enough, I had half a mind to suggest photinia, but bigg'ish ones around here seem a bit pricey, perhaps the price varies a bit from one area to another.  They do look very nice though, in my view, although my other half doesn't like them, which is a shame, as they would be ideal for the screening we need, having been to see some of around the right size.

[Mr Punter]

I am keen on photinia.  You could also look at eleagnus gilt edge, ceanothus, viburnum and a taller hebe.  A bit of a mix can look good.

[newhome]

I have tried to grow some decent screening plants here but many just won’t grow in these windy conditions. I’m not right on the coast but not far off. Laurel dies, other things never grow, and some things I haven’t attempted to grow. Not tried photinia as I thought it looked pretty but too delicate. Hebe and ceanothus seem to be ok. I’ve just bought a tall bay tree / bush that I’m pretty sure will die! 

[Cpd]

If there are no drains near by...... biomass willow Will grow like mad..... some of the hardy fuchsia are cheap and quick growing and have lovely flowers. 

[daiking]

5 minutes ago, Cpd said:

If there are no drains near by......

 

 

[Cpd]

If highly invasive plants are your thing then bamboo is sure work as an instant screen......... i will now stop. ...... Russian vine would be your last really bad choice.