A Bit On The Side - 3

Posted on 4 Jul, 2009 18 comments

We had some rain on Thursday night (thank you to those in the west for sparing a little for us) – not enough to do any good but it did mean that Friday was cooler and less humid for the tree men. To recap, I have bought a piece of my neighbour’s garden and so far, have cleared all the straggly shrubs, weeds and undergrowth. The only things left were an old contorted willow (over thirty feet tall) and a neglected leylandii hedge approaching twenty feet.

First the willow was removed piece by piece

Next the lower branches of the leylandii were cut away

And then they were cut down as well

When everything was reduced to ground level, a chipper was brought in and all trace of them was gone

Somehow, the area looks bigger. Now I can start on construction rather than destruction.

Comments

Louise1

That's great, now the fun begins :)))

By the way, aren't those stump grinders brilliant machines ? :)))
I've had an area like that dealt with and watched whilst the SGs did their magic !

What are your plans for there Andrew ?

4 Jul, 2009

Andrewr

Watch this space Louise ;-) If I tell you all now, you'll stop reading my blogs. Let's just say that being a planner, I know how I'm going to lay it out and some of the plants I need (I've already bought a few in readiness) but it will probably be next spring before it is all planted up as these is a lot of work still to do

4 Jul, 2009

Bigbumblebee

You lucky, lucky thing! I would just love to have this opportunity to create something wonderful and new on a bare canvas. I, and no doubt many others, will be watching with interest. If you need any daylilies, let me know. I shall be doing alot of splitting this autumn.

4 Jul, 2009

Clarice

It does look alot bigger does'nt it with all the trees gone, looking forward to seeing it developed in the coming months.Sorry i did'nt send enough rain for you.

4 Jul, 2009

Louise1

I'm eagerly awaiting then Andrew, i too would have everything planned out :)

4 Jul, 2009

Terratoonie

With a big space like that, will you have room for a friend for Barney and Bruno.... ? :o)

4 Jul, 2009

Sanbaz

great work andrew, cant wait to see what you do next :o)

4 Jul, 2009

Blodyn

Exciting. What are you going to plant there ?
Or is it a secret and we'll have to wait for another blog ?

4 Jul, 2009

Andrewr

TT - I'm not sure if Bruno and Barney would like a friend. After all, two's company, three's a crowd. I know what I would like but it's a case of finding the right thing at the right price.

Hywel - sorry, you'll have to wait. Planting is a long way off yet. This piece has to be fenced off and access made into my garden, hard landscaping laid, soil prepared (did you spot the sacks of fertiliser I ordered?), plants ordered...

4 Jul, 2009

Blodyn

Isaw the sacks.
A long time to wait yet then :o(

4 Jul, 2009

Seaburngirl

i'm clearing old borders and i am amazed at how much space i now have. plants are now the topic of research.

4 Jul, 2009

Dawnsaunt

You must be so excited Andrew ..... what happened to the conifer roots, did you leave them in to rot off. I'm just interested as I have some to cut down.

4 Jul, 2009

Andrewr

The grinder takes the stumps below ground level so you can pave over them but big trees like that have roots that go w-a-y down. When I do the soil preparation, all the smaller roots will get dug out but it will still be a long/hard job. I don't expect to be planting until late autumn or spring next year

4 Jul, 2009

Ian_digs_v2

I can tell you this, Andrew, From experience they go a L-O-N-G way sideways as well. When I turned my potato bed at the end of last year I was finding roots about five to six feet away from the hedge with huge nodules? on them.

4 Jul, 2009

Grindle

a job well done Andrew, now you can enjoy :D

5 Jul, 2009

Lily2

What a lovely blank canvas you have there Andrew, great to have a new bit of garden to transform. We have a 15' conifer hedge which I have a love/hate thing with. We have it trimmed every year, I think we use the same tree man as you and he's put me off just having the height reduced. As your pictures show, they do give a lot of privacy.

5 Jul, 2009

Sue_sullivan

I wish we had one of those grinders when we dug our pond, we removed an Elderberry tree and the roots went way under the lawn. I can still see my husband and sons having a tug of war match with it. They won after about 4 rounds.
can't wait to see what you going to do with the land.

5 Jul, 2009

Andrewr

Lily,
The houses behind us were built about 20 years ago so I had assumed the hedge was planted to give privacy. But today my neighbour told me her late husband planted it because the previous owner of my garden was a pyromaniac and kept lighting bonfires behind their garden! We were also worried the guy in the house behind would object to losing his privacy but he is delighted because now his garden gets more light

5 Jul, 2009

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