So on my list of jobs for 2014 was removing the last of our bloody huge Hawthrone Hedge, we took out the one bordering our lawn last year and it was a pretty backbreaking thankless task! As usual I didn't take a before pic as I had my hands on some big garden shears which usually makes me forget to pick the camera up, heres one from last summer when it was in leaf...
...this picture makes the hedge look quite nice and lush...well its not, its evil!! This stuff has inch long thorns that will easily go through the sole of your trainers making summer in flip flops very hazardous. It serves very little function, even the birds won't nest in it, so we decided to replace it.
Saturday morning was summer and clear so I made a start on cutting all the branches back to the main trunks.
Saturday morning was summer and clear so I made a start on cutting all the branches back to the main trunks.
This made a huge difference straight away, for one it let a lot more light into the garden and it also gained us 2 feet of garden we didn't realise we had! It also created the hugest pile of cuttings. We tried with some help to bag these for taking to the recycling centre but there was just too much, so saturday evening Rich started a bonfire thinking we might be able to get rid of some of it.
We spent 3 hours feeding it (inbetween beer and marshmallows!) and managed to get rid of all the cuttings...phew!
The next morning there was only a relatively small pile of ash, amazing when you consider how much foliage this was...
The next morning there was only a relatively small pile of ash, amazing when you consider how much foliage this was...
This of course was the easy bit, how we have the horrible job of removing the main trunks which are really deep rooted and of course covered in spikes!
I managed to take 3 out on Sunday before admitting defeat due to being knackered, guess what my plans for the coming weekend will include!
The ultimate plan is to replace with hedge with a living willow weave fence, something like this...
The ultimate plan is to replace with hedge with a living willow weave fence, something like this...
As ever I will be having my plants supplied by the brilliant guys at Victoriana Nurseries, so at least the quality of the plants will be great even if the weaving might be a little hit and miss.
So the garden now looks like a bomb site again but I got my first bit of sun in months, that at least was wonderful!
So the garden now looks like a bomb site again but I got my first bit of sun in months, that at least was wonderful!
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