How to make area under removed Leyland Plantable

skerry

Hi Folks, hoping I can get some advice from some folks with greener fingers than mine. I had a row of Leyland Cyprus trees cut down a few months back. They provided good privacy but were too much maintenance. Now I'm left with a row of stumps cut as low to the ground as I could get them. I did hear you can leave a couple of feet and have a mini digger knock them out but that wasn't an option as I reckon the roots would have done a lot of damage to neighbors fence.

Anyway, what I want is to make the soil plantable again and was wondering what steps I need to take to do this. The hope is to have some raised beds and have some nice low maintenance plants. I also want to plant some hedging in the middle section of that stretch (Red Robin looks nice) so that we won't be overlooking the neighbors.

What are the most logical steps to take here. In my head I'm thinking the below
- use a garden fork to turn the soil and mechanically remove as much weeds as I can
- membrane (someone told me cardboard sheets works but not sure)
- some top soil and then fertilizer

Does the above make sense or is there something else I should be doing. Pics are below for an idea

magicbastarder

i found that a lot of the 'damage' that had been done to the soil under leylandii here was simply starving it of water.
you shouldn't need top soil; i did take the stumps out and dug some rotted farmyard manure through and it was fine after.

skerry

magicbastarder wrote: »

i found that a lot of the 'damage' that had been done to the soil under leylandii here was simply starving it of water.
you shouldn't need top soil; i did take the stumps out and dug some rotted farmyard manure through and it was fine after.

It just looks dry and compacted there. I did read that the tree's can strip the soil of a lot of nutrients but not sure how true that is. Weeds starting to take hold now that there is light getting in there and want to get started into this before they get out of control. Had a lad price up putting raised beds in and some sleepers but its working out very expensive so gonna go at it myself now section by section.

Glad the tree's are gone as way too much maintenance but I do miss the privacy. Want a manageable hedge there but will be a good few years before whatever I plant is to a height that I will get coverage and mature hedging is very expensive.

aw

I see ivy on the ground there. Keep that under control or removing that will be your next big project!

You could grind out the stumps, but if you are going to raise up the level, you could get away without.

Soil looks ok, as above, my immediate though was some rotted manure mixed in.
You'd get sleepers yourself for about €30 each @ 2.4m.
Put them in, looks like 3 cubic metres of topsoil, 1 metre of manure, mix it together and plant away.

RedRobin won't be as thick as what you're used to. I have it planted as a hedge. People often use laurel for thickness and fast growth to provide cover. But laurel can bring its own troubles trying to keep it trimmed and disposing of the clippings.

skerry

aw wrote: »

I see ivy on the ground there. Keep that under control or removing that will be your next big project!

You could grind out the stumps, but if you are going to raise up the level, you could get away without.

Soil looks ok, as above, my immediate though was some rotted manure mixed in.
You'd get sleepers yourself for about €30 each @ 2.4m.
Put them in, looks like 3 cubic metres of topsoil, 1 metre of manure, mix it together and plant away.

RedRobin won't be as thick as what you're used to. I have it planted as a hedge. People often use laurel for thickness and fast growth to provide cover. But laurel can bring its own troubles trying to keep it trimmed and disposing of the clippings.

Thanks for the advice. Yeah there's a good bit of ivy rooted along that section. Other than digging it out I presume there's no other real way to get it under control other that hard work?

Herself was in about planting laurel too and it does seem a thinker hedge than the red Robin I've seen. Just want something that I can manage easily and run a hedge trimmer across once its mature.

If I was raising up the level to go over the stumps, any idea on what folks usually do for the back part. Plan is to have some sleepers in the front in a few sections but not sure what to do about the back to support whatever soil I add. Neighbor has a concrete fence and not sure if dumping a load of soil up against it would be ideal. Our border is where the old concrete fence posts are in the pic so would like to keep the border line there if that makes sense. Would folks use sleepers at the back too?

celticbhoy27

skerry wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. Yeah there's a good bit of ivy rooted along that section. Other than digging it out I presume there's no other real way to get it under control other that hard work?

Herself was in about planting laurel too and it does seem a thinker hedge than the red Robin I've seen. Just want something that I can manage easily and run a hedge trimmer across once its mature.

If I was raising up the level to go over the stumps, any idea on what folks usually do for the back part. Plan is to have some sleepers in the front in a few sections but not sure what to do about the back to support whatever soil I add. Neighbor has a concrete fence and not sure if dumping a load of soil up against it would be ideal. Our border is where the old concrete fence posts are in the pic so would like to keep the border line there if that makes sense. Would folks use sleepers at the back too?

Laurel is not much less maintenance than Leylandi. Its also more awkward to trim. I have both. I'd prefer cutting the Leylandi any day over the laurel. Laurel tends to flap like rubber while you try trim it. If you're set on laurel though go with Portuguese laurel, easier maintain and cut

magicbastarder

laurel (much as i dislike it) doesn't suffer from that leylandii issue though, where if you cut back past the green, that's it, it looks dead, though?

celticbhoy27

magicbastarder wrote: »

laurel (much as i dislike it) doesn't suffer from that leylandii issue though, where if you cut back past the green, that's it, it looks dead, though?

Nope it will rejuvenate alright. I'm not an advocate for Leylandi but if treated right it can be a nice hedge. I trim it about 5 or 6 times a year. Keep it around 6 and a half feet.

skerry

celticbhoy27 wrote: »

Laurel is not much less maintenance than Leylandi. Its also more awkward to trim. I have both. I'd prefer cutting the Leylandi any day over the laurel. Laurel tends to flap like rubber while you try trim it. If you're set on laurel though go with Portuguese laurel, easier maintain and cut

Not dead set on laurel. Just something that will provide privacy and relatively easy to maintain. Not sure what other options are out there but will head to the garden centre and scope them out once I've cleared the area.

The Leylandi was way too much maintenance though. Previous owners hadn't cut them for years before we moved in and they were beyond getting into a manageable size at that point. Paid a nice bit to have them trimmed when we moved in and they were back to where they started before long. As you said, cant cut too far in with them then or they go all dead.

celticbhoy27

skerry wrote: »

Not dead set on laurel. Just something that will provide privacy and relatively easy to maintain. Not sure what other options are out there but will head to the garden centre and scope them out once I've cleared the area.

The Leylandi was way too much maintenance though. Previous owners hadn't cut them for years before we moved in and they were beyond getting into a manageable size at that point. Paid a nice bit to have them trimmed when we moved in and they were back to where they started before long. As you said, cant cut too far in with them then or they go all dead.

Hard to get the balance right with hedges to be honest. There's no hedge id straight away reccommend. All have their negatives. Alot of people like beech. I honestly can't see why. It looks dead for most of the year and is only green for about 5 months per annum. Red robin is a nice specimen plant but I've seen hedges of it and there's always gaps and looks a bit scraggly. All down to preference really

Ulmus

I think wall shrubs such as pyracantha would be a good choice. I wouldn't build a raised bed for them as they do better planted into the ground.

aw

celticbhoy27 wrote: »

Hard to get the balance right with hedges to be honest. There's no hedge id straight away reccommend. All have their negatives. Alot of people like beech. I honestly can't see why. It looks dead for most of the year and is only green for about 5 months per annum. Red robin is a nice specimen plant but I've seen hedges of it and there's always gaps and looks a bit scraggly. All down to preference really

Good point about hedging. There is no one perfect.
Everyone near me is gone mad for beech the last few years.

I have some planted, some hornbeam, red robin, portugese laurel and just this year I put down some privet. Nice to mix it up for different areas.
None are perfect but they all have their different features.

Portugese Laurel would be good but might be a bit gappy at the bottom. Privet could also be a good option. Or honeysuckle box (not standard buxus).

skerry

aw wrote: »

Good point about hedging. There is no one perfect.
Everyone near me is gone mad for beech the last few years.

I have some planted, some hornbeam, red robin, portugese laurel and just this year I put down some privet. Nice to mix it up for different areas.
None are perfect but they all have their different features.

Portugese Laurel would be good but might be a bit gappy at the bottom. Privet could also be a good option. Or honeysuckle box (not standard buxus).

Had a google of Portugese Laurel there and looks like a good option. Gappy at the bottom wouldn't be an issue as the neighbor has a concrete fence there. Unfortunately the fence needs to be about another foot or two higher to provide privacy, which wasn't really evident when they put it in as our Leylandi was about twice the height of the fence.

Not gonna go too mad on hedging, its only really needed for the 10 or so metre stretch where we are looking directly across at neighbors. A variety would be good too. Want to put some through into it and get it right. It's all well and good to think I need a fast growing hedge to provide privacy as soon as possible but I'm sure that's the exact same thought process that goes into planting the likes of what we just cut down as it was too high maintenance and out of control.

Need to start managing this like a project and commit time to it now. There's a nice bit of work in it but gonna take it section by section

Supercell

Of the various hedges around my house I like the griselinia the most, ivy doesnt seem to bother it (presumably because its so dense) and its easy enough to trim. I have read that it is frost hardy down -10C or so which isnt an issue near the coast here, but maybe more so in Northern and inland areas of the the country.

magicbastarder

the only time i can recall seeing damage to griselinia was 2010 during that particularly harsh winter.

macraignil

magicbastarder wrote: »

the only time i can recall seeing damage to griselinia was 2010 during that particularly harsh winter.

I saw a couple of established Griselinia hedges killed off almost completely around then when we had a couple of severe winters and that is in the south of the country in county Cork. Probably fine around the coast but we got instructions when the house here was built that Leylandii and Griselinia were not to be used by the county council and I think that this was down to both of these being over used already and as non native hedges they are less useful to wildlife than some other options.



I think over a 10metre stretch a selection of different hedge suitable shrubs would be a better option than just going for one thing and a mixed hedge row is much better for wildlife than a single species one. I find maintaining shrubs and hedge plants is easier with manual clippers and loppers than those mechanical trimmers so there is not much difference in maintaining a mixed row of shrubs and a single species hedge.



The problem of gaps lower down on hedges can be caused to some extent by keeping the top of the hedge too wide and this causes shade further down and the plants usually put less effort into growth where it does not have enough light. Clipping the hedge to be a bit narrower near the top allows more light to reach the growth further down and helps avoid gaps near the end of the plants.


I think this cotoneaster variety should be used more in hedges and is very popular with pollinators at the moment and also provides berries for the birds over winter.

standardg60

macraignil wrote: »

I saw a couple of established Griselinia hedges killed off almost completely around then when we had a couple of severe winters and that is in the south of the country in county Cork. Probably fine around the coast but we got instructions when the house here was built that Leylandii and Griselinia where not to be used by the county council and I think that this was down to both of these being over used already and as non native hedges they are less useful to wildlife than some other options.



I think over a 10metre stretch a selection of different hedge suitable shrubs would be a better option than just going for one thing and a mixed hedge row is much better for wildlife than a single species one. I find maintaining shrubs and hedge plants is easier with manual clippers and loppers than those mechanical trimmers so there is not much difference in maintaining a mixed row of shrubs and a single species hedge.



The problem of gaps lower down on hedges can be caused to some extent by keeping the top of the hedge too wide and this causes shade further down and the plants usually put less effort into growth where it does not have enough light. Clipping the hedge to be a bit narrower near the top allows more light to reach the growth further down and helps avoid gaps near the end of the plants.


I think this cotoneaster variety should be used more in hedges and is very popular with pollinators at the moment and also provides berries for the birds over winter.

+1, especially re the trimming.
Other options outside the box but with upright habits suitable for screening would be Pittosporum, Viburnum tinus, Crinodendron, Hoheria, and Arbutus.

magicbastarder

standardg60 wrote: »

Other options outside the box

i see what you did there.

Government buildings

Laurel and Leylandi should be banned. One is as bad as the other. You are trying to make a hedge out of trees

Ms2011

When we bought our house it had huge pine trees at the front perimeter which we removed immediately as they were not only ugly to look at but a danger to the house as they were so close.
When we removed the trees we were left with soil similar to yours. We took out the trees around April, I went to the beach and collected a few bags of seaweed and layered them on ground and allowed them to break down until the Autumn when I dug them in in preparation to plan a hedge.
My Dad rooted lots of cuttings from his Cotoneaster hedge (free hedge;))and I sowed them that Autumn. That was about 3 years ago, the hedge is lovely and healthy, getting really thick and about five foot tall at the moment and due its first proper cut this year.

standardg60

magicbastarder wrote: »

i see what you did there.

Wasn't meant but i read you:D

skerry

Thanks for all the suggestions and input folks. The more I read about Cotoneaster the more I'm liking that as an option. I seen the variety below in a garden centre that delivery locally and they have it at 180cm height for 30 quid a plant. Think I'll pick up a couple next week once I have some more work done clearing things out. Will plant around them then and figure out what works as I go

https://clarenbridgegardencentre.ie/online-garden-shop/special-offers/cotoneaster-lacteus/

Lashed into a section this morning before it got too hot. Happy enough with the progress but its hard work. Think I've got all the weeds out now and ripped up any ivy I came across as I went. Its looking a lot better now I've turned the soil a bit. That section is near the front of the house and no privacy issue there so maybe thinking some low maintenance grasses or something like that, will take a trip to the garden centre and see what good options are.

Think there's bracken at the end there which I need to get rid of and other end of garden has patches of what look like ground elder which I understand is quite hard to get under control. I was hoping to avoid spraying but from the research I've done it seems mechanically weeding ground elder is a waste of time

Plan is to clear a section and plant it and move onto the next cos if I leave it until I have it all finished then weeds will probably have taken hold in the first section by the time I finish. Hopefully that works out and I'll just have to maintain the newly planted sections.

Apologies for sideways pic, it keeps rotating the pic when I upload it