privet hedge

[hayling11]

hi everyone
we would like a hedge around the front garden.
the width is 6.5 metres (20 ft), can any one advise me as to how many hedge plants we need to get , how long they take to grow, the cheapest place to get them from and how to look after them please?

many thanks indeed.

 

[r896neo]

You generally buy them in single plants but by height. i.e 4 foot tall or 3 etc. Don't be fooled thinking that this will be a well established hedge though a 4 foot one will be four foot tall of course but it will be basically a root ball with one main stalk with a few shoots off it. plant them about 10inches apart and it will be a full year before they thicken enough to stop a small child pushing its way through them and a further year before its a decent hedge. by end of its 3rd year it should look as if its been there forever.

Don't cut it at all until most of the shoots are 8 inches long or so then cut it to what you imagine will be the extremities of the hedge fully grown. after this Cut it little and often to get it to thicken quicker and give it a bit of bone meal a few times a year.

 

[oilman]

You will get a better result, faster, by getting 1 year old whips planting them, cutting them back to a few inches and waiting.

Do you really want privet? It throws suckers all over the place and is not particularly pretty.