Ways to Provide Boundary Screening such as Hedges or Fencing in Your Garden

How to Screen our gardens from the neighbours.

One of our biggest problems today in crowded towns, on large or small housing estates or even in the country is being overlooked by our neighbours and a lack of privacy in small gardens.

Most developers only allow for a 1.8m high feather edge fence or walling to divide one garden from the next. With the ever increasing density of housing being built within a few metres of each other there are bound to be problems of being overlooked. One of the solutions is hedge planting, especially as this is also an environmentally friendly method. There are a number of types of hedging plants depending upon the soil type and aspect of the property. In the countryside of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Berkshire natural mixed field hedge species blend in well and provide good screening and security due to the high content of thorny plant types.

Single species such as Hawthorn, Privet, Beech, Hornbeam, Yew, Box, Laurel, Thuja, Chamaecyparis, Leylandii(with control!) all have their good points and uses depending upon where they are to be sited.

The centre of the hedge should be well within your boundary to allow for the width of the mature hedge so that it does not encroach onto your neighbours land. This is usually at least 18" (450mm) from the fence and boundary line.

The solution is not always an easy one and very often we see house owners planting trees really close to or even on their boundary. This is asking for long term trouble of roots and branches growing over and into a neighbours property. The small tree grows into a very big tree and shades the whole of the garden or that of the neighbour. Walling and fencing is pushed over as the tree grows. Sometimes the roots reach down into the drains or even the main sewer and cause thousands of pounds worth of damage. Disputes arise as to whose fault it is and who should pay for what to be done to put things right and neighbours are often in a position to fall out big-time.

Please don't let this happen to you!

Here are a few tips that may help you decide what to do to screen you from next door: -

Check where the main drain runs are.

Do not plant a tree within 4m (16feet) from a buildings foundations and especially not willow or eucalyptus which should be at least 10m (36 feet) away.

Do not plant a tree right on the boundary line. Make sure that when it grows it will be a nice feature in your garden and give you some shade and interest.

Don't let the branches extend over the boundary. Many young, small trees will still grow to be 4 to 6 metres across and 20, 30, 40 metres tall over the next 15 to 50 years.

Check where the shadow will fall. Is it going to be in your garden or into next doors. Use a tall pole pushed into the ground and see where the shadow falls during the day and evening especially.

Trees planted about 2 to 3 metres in from a distant corner from the house, can provide an interesting focal point, seating area and give you some privacy and shade. Try to spend a little bit extra to buy one that is about 3 m tall.

When planting, dig a good sized hole and mix some planting compost with the soil. If the soil is heavy clay please ensure that the clay is broken up and carefully replaced around the new roots and do not create a deep "bath" that will hold water and rot the roots. Always loosen the soil in the bottom of the planting hole to give the roots a chance to move outwards and to help drainage. Water the soil well before you plant the tree and afterwards. Make sure that you give the tree a really good soaking initially and then ensure that the ground is kept well watered in the first two summers.

The trunk should be secured using an expandable rubber tree tie to a 50mm diameter treated stake rammed into the ground at a slight angle so as to avoid damaging the trees roots.

We sometimes like to set up a pleached tree screen using beech, lime or hornbeam secured to a post and wire supporting structure. You could use apples, pears or cherries of the right rootstock possibly. The laterals are trained along by tying them to the horizontal wires. These can be set anything between 250 and 400mm apart vertically. This is very effective where we want to screen an adjacent building from our grounds. You can then under-plant the trees using a variety of herbaceous or groundcover plants.

The picture here shows hornbeam at the end of its first season in the winter both the whole run of four trees and a closer detail of the lateral branches on the wire. The side shoots on the laterals will be kept trimmed to promote bushier growth over the next two or three seasons.

Below the same screen but in Late May the following year. It's ready to have the laterals tied in some more and the tips removed to help the branches to set side shoots and to "bush up".

To show what can be achieved after about 3 or 4 years when you plant fairly mature trees ready trained. here is another garden with a mature pleached tree screen to hide a building next door. This leaves a good clear area that tends to be dry and slightly poorer soil underneath the tree trunks ready for other dry shade planting. Amazingly the Hosta and plants here seem to be thriving. This may be because they are on the sheltered North facing aspect from the main sun.

We are also big fans of Yew hedging for a dense clean-cut smart appearance that provides a rich dark green backdrop for a wide range of planting schemes. It's also great for screening different parts of the garden, good for birds and insects and can easily be cut into interesting shapes by topiary. The hedge below was planted using 600 to 800mm high plants in the spring of 2004. The owners have kept it lightly clipped to help it to bush up and this picture was taken during the Winter the same year. As with trees it is important to keep the hedge well watered even in the Winter to ensure that the roots establish and provide nutrients for the plant to grow.

The yew hedge, on the left, in its second year having been planted at 600mm 2 foot (600mm) tall initial plant height.

Topiary Yew flame in our garden. This is only about 8 years old!