Planting 45m of beech hedging

rodge123

Hoping to plant 45m this Thursday / Friday.
18 inches apart single row be ok? Seen a few different spacing suggestions.

Going to pop up the road to a local nursery to check price for materials plus planting.

I'll plant myself if on the pricey side.

Want 18m of 2-3ft and 27m of 3-4ft.

Any idea what cost I'm looking at for purchase of bare root plants and cost to pay a guy/s to plant?

Would the likes of this place be cheaper than any local guy? (Not sure if people allowed comment on this in formum, pm me if not)
http://www.thegardenshop.ie/beech-bare-root/

Samuel T. Cogley

One tip - dont plant it too close to the wall (like I did)!

rodge123

So I got a price off a local nursery of €10 per meter all in.
That includes:
- 18m of 2-3ft
- 27m of 3-4ft
- Planting them.

He insisted that they use 4 per meter in a single row, this seems excessive?

Father in law insists 18 inches apart single row will fill out fine in a few years.
We are only going to let it grow to 4 or 5 feet height.

Thoughts?

RonanP77

rodge123 wrote:

He insisted that they use 4 per meter in a single row, this seems excessive?

I have a beech hedge, I think we planted 3 per meter and it's perfect, any more would be very tight.

baaba maal

Is it a boundary hedge or a driveway-type hedge?

If the former I would consider a double row for starters.

If the latter, I think four per metre would give you the continuous hedge appearance a couple of years sooner- once they are established the difference would be quickly made up.

Are the contractors putting down any weed matting (I haven't a clue about pricing-I'm only talking from my experience with my own garden)- 45 per metre seems like a lot of money to me, so are they using a digger, do you know where all the cables are etc.)?

rodge123

baaba maal wrote: »

Is it a boundary hedge or a driveway-type hedge?

If the former I would consider a double row for starters.

If the latter, I think four per metre would give you the continuous hedge appearance a couple of years sooner- once they are established the difference would be quickly made up.

Are the contractors putting down any weed matting (I haven't a clue about pricing-I'm only talking from my experience with my own garden)- 45 per metre seems like a lot of money to me, so are they using a digger, do you know where all the cables are etc.)?

It's a boundary hedge to road and between neighbour.

Sorry, price is €10 per meter! So €450 total, think I'll just get the plants for about €250 and plant myself, bit of hard work won't do me my harm before The Christmas gluttony!

Is it that 18 inches apart they would take a lot longer to fill in?

Exiled1

Also an option to plant them in staggered formation, two rows 18 inches apart.

Genghis Cant

What's the ground there like at the minute?
And what are you getting for the €10/m, the planting of the easy bit. It's preparing the bed where the work is. Beech isn't as hardy as whitethorn for example. If you want it do well prepared a good seed bed as you would for any crop.
If it was me I'd plant two staggered rows a foot between rows and two foot between plants. You'll have a good thick hedge that retains its leaves to provide a visual barrier better over winter. If it's a more streamlined hedge you're looking for maybe a single row would work.

Lumen

Agree with others that double row much better for beech.