Get a bloke with a tree stump grinder - most tree surgeons have someone who will do this for you, they cut the trees down, grind the stumps out and remove the debris. Get a couple of quotes though - alternatively, you could hire a tree stump grinder yourself, but they're often not great when you hire them, and its hard work and very messy.

Grinding out tree stumps is a hard, messy and expensive job. If the stumps are accessible by a JCB, without wrecking the garden, then this is the easiest option (JCB's haver a remarkably long reach). We usually just cut the trees as close to the ground as possible then raise the level of the garden around the stump. Given time the stumps just rot away.

I don't think we can use a JCB to dig them out as the roots more than likely go under the neighbours garage. Raising the level sounds like a good idea though. I'm just trying to think how we can do that. Perhaps build a raised bed along that part of the wall. I shall position my chair in front of them later and think about how to design that :-)

We had a row of conifers professionally dealt with a long time ago. The quote was twice as much to take out the stumps as well. We were advised to leave alone and stumps would resolve quite quickly. We planted Camellias between the stumps. They are thriving and the advice was good.....the stumps have gone. Nice honest treeman!

That's great, Dorjac. Do you have any idea how long that took?

I think we noticed after about 5 years that the stumps were breaking down. A while after that they were no where to be seen or detected with a hoe. In contrast the large stump of a stooled hazel is still there in all its glory after more than 5 years. That was bored and filled with tree stump killer to stop growth. As far as I recall no conifer stump has ever caused much bother of all the ones we had taken down on other boundaries.

Thank you. That's good to hear. I've discussed it with Mum and she agrees to burying the stumps under a raised bed so hopefully, by the time I get planting next spring, there will be no visible traces of the darned things. I'm not totally anti-conifers - they can be lovely in the right place - but huge ones along boundaries just don't ring my bells.

Instead of a raised bed, why don't you just excavate a little soil round the base of each and saw them off to that level, then replace the inch or so of soil around them. Once you plant inbetween,you won't even notice the stumps.

A few years ago I took up a whole row of conifers. I managed to get the stumps up by digging down around the stump to reveal the roots then cut each root. One heck of a job though

To be honest, Bamboo, I think a raised bed is a better solution because of my disability. I have enough trouble with the front border so would much rather not have to get down on my hands and knees more than I have to. It's a good idea, though.

Not sure I'm up to that, Pipsqueak. Sounds like a lot of hard work to me. Good on you for doing it but I think I prefer the idea of burying them under a raised bed. What I can't see I won't worry about :)

Well that's a pretty good reason for raised beds anyway, never mind the tree stumps, lol!

I agree with Bamboo. Never mind the stumps and, whatever you do, enjoy your new, tall conifer free, border.