Species for new boundary hedge

hexosan

Hi
I have a wild hedge to the front (east) of my site which has a mix of holly, Hawthorne & Ash plus a few others I can't identify. The hedge is approx 3m high. In places it's patchy and has a few gaps. It's cut once a year by tractor & hedge cutter. This year I pulled all the ivy & briars out of it as it was getting chocked in places.
I have to plant a similar hedge 40m along the north boundary. The soil conditions are poor heavy/wet peat soil.
Anyone have any suggestions on species that would grow quick, provide privacy & security.
I'm based between the midlands/south east

looksee

Why not continue with what you already have? Hawthorn, ash and holly, plus maybe rowan (mountain ash), hazel, blackthorn. Have a look around and see what else grows happily in the area. If you have plenty of space you could consider an oak and a beech (long term planting). Sycamore tends to throw up endless numbers of seedlings so you might want to avoid that.

hexosan

Thanks for the reply
I plan on planting similar to what's there only different is the east & west boundary is well drained and both hedges are well established the north boundary is exposed & shaded by high tress on the west. The soil is far worst mainly just peat and can be water logged.
I'm hoping to drain the site but only looking into the best ways of doing it at the moment so can expect to start that for a few months. Wanted to get a hedge in as soon as possible.
Will any of the about do well in wet peaty soil.

hexosan

Should mention site is in a rural location with farm land on two side so have to be mindful of livestock issues with certain plants.

looksee

Willow, alder, hazel, dogwood, probably be ok, but maybe you should look at at least a temporary drain down the side of the field or you could be wasting money planting in very boggy soil. If you want the hedge to be fairly stock-proof you should look at improving the conditions so you can plant some hawthorn and blackthorn, all the ones listed are quite soft growing, though I don't know if animals would be interested in eating them.

vinnie13

looksee wrote: »

Why not continue with what you already have? Hawthorn, ash and holly, plus maybe rowan (mountain ash), hazel, blackthorn. Have a look around and see what else grows happily in the area. If you have plenty of space you could consider an oak and a beech (long term planting). Sycamore tends to throw up endless numbers of seedlings so you might want to avoid that.

i would agree here and you will get most of the plants along the ditches to fill in spots,right time of year to get it done to.

hexosan

Thanks for the replies so far
I'm looking at getting the plants from either

www.futureforests.net
or
www.hedging.ie

Anyone have any dealing with either good or bad.

hexosan

Here's the listen of plants that's been recommended to use in my heavy/peat soil.

Hawthorn
Holly
Rowan (Mountain Ash),
Blackthorn
Oak
Willow
Alder
Hazel
Dogwood
Hornbeam
Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus)
Alder Buckthorn (Frangula alnus)
Downy Birch (Betula pubescens)

Sonnenblumen

hexosan wrote: »

Here's the listen of plants that's been recommended to use in my heavy/peat soil.

Hawthorn
Holly
Rowan (Mountain Ash),
Blackthorn
Oak
Willow
Alder
Hazel
Dogwood
Hornbeam
Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus)
Alder Buckthorn (Frangula alnus)
Downy Birch (Betula pubescens)

That's quite a mixed bag there, only thing missing is the kitchen sink. Your final selection will depend on your preferred attributes eg fast growing (lots of maintenance), evergreen (better shelter) or mixed (more suited to wild life). I would limit my choice to max 3 varieties and some on the list I would never plant in this situation. Being suitable for growing in the soil conditions is minimum criteria!

hexosan

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

That's quite a mixed bag there, only thing missing is the kitchen sink. Your final selection will depend on your preferred attributes eg fast growing (lots of maintenance), evergreen (better shelter) or mixed (more suited to wild life). I would limit my choice to max 3 varieties and some on the list I would never plant in this situation. Being suitable for growing in the soil conditions is minimum criteria!

Maybe I wasn't clear I don't plan on using all these plants that just the list that's been recommended to me. From the above list which would you recommend I chose. My main criteria would be security & privacy. I'd only plan on cutting the hedge once a year. I get the other hedges cut by tractor.

Sonnenblumen

Plant two parallel lines alternating between Dogwood (is fast growing but limited security value) and Holly (high security value but slow growing), you might consider planting Pyracantha (faster growing) in lieu of Holly.

For privacy (screening height?) I would plant the Rowan and Hawthorn trees.

hexosan

Anyone recommend planting now or waiting till the end of the month/ start of march assuming this rain is ever going to stop.

looksee

If you are doing to destroy the area by walking on it - compressing the soil - and if the water table is anywhere near the surface at the moment, I would wait. Otherwise you could go ahead.

hexosan

Anyone seen the bareroot hedging in lidl this Thurs. They have field maple, hawthorn, beech & burner rose. 10pack for €3.99.

Anyone got these before and they worth getting. ??

jpb14

hexosan wrote: »

Anyone seen the bareroot hedging in lidl this Thurs. They have field maple, hawthorn, beech & burner rose. 10pack for €3.99.

Anyone got these before and they worth getting. ??

Dont waste your time,they will be about 1 foot tall at best and in bits.Go to a proper nursery or garden centre and buy 60-90cm tall barerot bundles of 25 instead.A bundle of 25 should be around 20 euro,even cheaper now that bareroot season is comming to an end and nurseries and garden centres will want to sell them off.

theent

Dogwood (some disagree in the case of heavy soils) , willow and Alder are good choices for very wet soil. Hawthorns do not do well on wet peat. Hornbeam is tolerant of wet soil but I don't think it will thrive if too wet. The rowan is not suited for wet or waterlogged soils. Hollies will be able to survive in wet soil and is shade tolerant but it can be very slow. Pyracantha seems to suit moist soil but I don't know if it will do well on peat. I have heard of people uprooting their pyracantha because they were too thorny. a
May be you should dig a small drain and use the peat to create a raised bed for your plants.