Been a long time!!!

Great to see you again Julia

Welcome back:-) I think plants don't like to be too near privet, but I'm no expert, never grown it:-)

Good to be back :-) Seems to be unanimous against privet so far but my grandad had a privet hedge behind a border and I don't remember it causing any drama LOL!! A couple of other suggestions too that I will follow up. That's what GOY is best at!!

Doesn't cause drama, just dries out the soil and sucks all the nutrients out of it.

ah well grandad was a dairy man so he had lots of access to well rotted manure ha ha, which means I'd do well to consider this before planting privet

Welcome back Julie. What will be outside the hedge area. I'm assuming you will be planting it on a boundary. How high would you like it to be and does it face north, s, w or east. Is it liable to suffer wind damage? Is it shaded or sunny at different times of day. How long will it be? Its a lot of questions but it will maybe help us give you some suggestions on what you might grow.

Hi there!! Hedge will be south facing so plenty of sun but only on northern border (it's intended to hide an ugly interface between raised concrete pad of garage and a new three foot deep border). So really only need about 4ft height. About 3/4m long. Had some good suggestions about alternatives - roses were one :-) Someone (not on GOY but a professional gardener) suggested conifers but I rejected that idea as I'm sure the clippings would make the soil acidic so I don't want to be a hostage to acid loving plants :-) So far have concluded that whether I use privet or hornbeam I would need to keep on top of pruning, feed and water copiously. But if I wasn't a good feeder/waterer I would prob go for a lavender border (unfortunately I'm too generous for lavender to thrive!)

I hadn't realised it was such a small scale - there is hardly room for two hedge plants let alone a row. Another idea then - there is room for a two stemmed cordon, perhaps of redcurrant, which you could encourage to branch out really low down. In summer the whole area would be covered with bright green leaves, and pretty redcurrants underneath them. Or clipped box might do the trick.

Nice to have you back :o)

A cotoneaster or an evergreen berberis would stand up 4'tall and could be kept cut back to approx. 8"-12 ". I just snip off branches which grow out to the front or back towards the wall. It is evergreen, white flowers in spring followed by red, orange or yellow berries depending on which one you choose.

Thanks Hywel :-) Steragram - are redcurrants like rasps ie they would spread out? Clipped box sounds good, slow growing but prob more controllable than the privet/hornbeam idea! Scotsgran I love the idea of Berberis too esp as I'm assuming the birds could feed on it and it's evergreen. Ooh now I'm in a box vs berberis quandary LOL!

Berberis will grow more quickly. Another suggestion similar to Steragram why not train an evergreen Thornless Blackberry. It produces massive fruit, you might see them in the supermarket at exorbitant prices. They are so sweet and juicy and produce lots of fruit you can afford to allow the birds a share. It is best trained on a trellis.

well now you mention it Sheila we are going to be culling some blackberries that self seeded there as part of the tidy up - got one of the best tasting blackberries off them last year but also got a fair few scratches so pleased my tetanus is up to date! Going to spend my weekend weighing up all the options and going retro by getting all my old RHS encyclopedias out etc (but not doubt will end up doing more research online ha ha)

The Thornless Blackberry does have a few thorns on the bottom of the stems but the fruiting parts are all thorn free.