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privet hedges
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Posted by helping_out UK (My Page) on Thu, Jun 21, 07 at 5:46
Hi all,
I'm pretty much a newbie to gardening so please forgive my brief descriptions and lack of correct names.
I am looking after someone's garden while they are away and am concerned about about three dozen privet hedges which aren't looking too good. Some are in shady areas, others are in full sun. They are all watered well, but many have a small amounts of dead branches , mainly at the base. I was told to try 'blood, fish & bone' on them, which I did. Although there are some new leaves growing, they don't seem to be doing as well as they should.
Can anyone suggest something I can do to improve their health please, maybe a fertilizer of some sort?
Thanks for any help. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: privet hedges
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| What shape are the hedges? To get good growth down near the bottom, the hedge needs to be broadest at the base and narrower at the top, or else the base doesn't get enough light to grow well. If it is broadest at the middle or higher, then the lower part will get too much shade from the top to grow. Resin |
RE: privet hedges
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| 3 dozen privet hedges ???? Is this a stately home you are babysitting? How long are they away for? Unless it is a very long time ie more than a year, I don't think you should feel responsible for the hedges. They will have started to get unhealthy long before you came on the scene and you are unlikely to be able to make much difference to them in less than a year or so. Also you say 'they are well watered'. Privet hedges shouldn't really need watering. They can manage fine without it. If you are watering them I think you are probably wasting your energy, your time and water. There are very few things that should need watering in an average British summer apart from newly planted stuff, some vegetables and things in containers. personally I'd just leave the hedges alone apart from clipping them if they need it. |
RE: privet hedges
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| One good way of rejuvenating a neglected privet hedge is to chop it to a stump, or at least a little cluster of branches about a foot high, and let it grow back. You can then treat the new growth appropriately to create the correct shape and density. Do you think you could get away with taking a chain saw to your friend's hedge maze?!? Of course longterm renovation would involve checking into the conditions below ground. Soil may be compacted or just depleted after having a greedy hedge sucking out nutrients for decades and nothing going back in. As a quick fix, a few inches of compost around the base of the hedge couldn't hurt. |
RE: privet hedges
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| As you say you are a newbie to gardening and you have 3 dozen privet hedges could you be mistaken and calling them 'privet' when they could be 'box' hedge. The leaves are quite similar and it is an easy mistake to make if you are not a gardener. I know for many years I wondered how people kept such small 'privet' hedges when in reality they didn't have a privet at all. |
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