Garden Pictures Chat Corner

Our beech hedge is now only looking better in its 4th year as well. But I would say... partially :oops: In the lower part of the property, we have a tough time dealing with a tree on the adjacent municipal land. Due to the root area of the tree and the lack of moisture for the hedge, we had real problems there. In 2019 and 2020, we also had to replace many plants because they simply didn’t make it despite constant watering. Only this year – with the rather "normal" summer – have the plants finally managed to thrive. I do love the tree there (it also provides nice shade in the summer), but the perennial bed directly next to the hedge is really difficult. The entire soil is crisscrossed with fine roots. One spade strike and you pull out a whole bucket full of tiny roots from the soil. But the part of the hedge that was allowed to grow nicely from the start and is not in the area of the problematic tree now looks wonderful with the foliage... But as I said: even where it is optimal, it took 4 years! And we have been pruning properly from the beginning so that everything branches out. Seems to have worked well! You have to be patient, then the hedge will be just as beautiful!

In the lower part of the property, we are having serious struggles with a tree on the adjacent municipal land. Due to the root area of the tree and the lack of moisture in the hedge, we had real problems there.

In such a case, superficial watering of your own hedge helps during drier times.
When planting the hedge, it is very helpful to ensure that the roots are not twisted in one direction, but planted with the tips as straight down as possible. This benefits the strength and resilience of the tree throughout its entire life, as it will be able to root deeper. (By the way, this is also one of the reasons why naturally grown trees are usually significantly more stable than planted ones)

In the dry periods, we simply did not manage in both years. The gardener (who also planted the hedge back then) was also surprised at how difficult the little plants had it and how the soil looks because of the city tree. But I think everything should be fine now. This year, it was definitely relaxed in terms of dryness and all the plants look good :)

I missed that. Show me, ours only came in the third year.

So now, as promised, the pictures …. We planted the hedge in April 2020, we bought container-grown plants 80-100cm. Everything has grown very well so far and I am satisfied. I just don’t know where to cut it now so that it becomes dense … Father-in-law simply cut it off at the top in their first picture … in those places it then sprouted more but very tall, very crooked … the others in the following pictures we did not cut at the top, but they are now also clearly smaller (about 30cm smaller) … so, do you cut off the top too yes or no and do you need to put a plant stake on every trunk, I have seen that sometimes on other new constructions? and do you not cut the hedge in the first years at all or juist then so that it becomes denser?

Here is our hornbeam hedge in autumn - I love it at the moment :) [ATTACH alt="94F3EAA4-12BB-4410-99D5-8087A5F93555.jpeg"]67302[/ATTACH]

Thank you, we have decided to go with hornbeam instead of cherry laurel. ;)

We will definitely get advice. Thank you very much. And Berlin Neukölln is not far away :cool:

It’s been a while, but the Puchert nursery in Zeesen has fair prices; that’s where we got our trees. We paid €375 for 4 fruit trees (1.5 - 2m tall) and 3 deciduous trees (aspen, field maple, hornbeam, all between 3 and 4 m tall). However, they don’t deliver, but they rent out their trailer.