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I want to plant a hedge or something between a lane and my land, but the 12 inch deep soil is over a sheet of rock, I can,t break it up, any suggestions? What plants or hedging will accept such little soil.
Would a five foot high beech hedge be likely to grow in a 12 inch deep soil over an extended bedrock.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far but I was hoping for some sort hedge or dividing bushes.




Answers

 

What's critical is how wide the sheet of rock is - if it was, say, only a foot wide, then you'd stand a chance of planting a hedge -if, though, its bedrock and extends a fair distance, say more than 6 feet either side, then drainage is going to be a problem for any plant trying to grow there, not to mention insufficient depth for the roots for any larger plant. It might, in the end, be better to erect a fence of some kind.

29 Sep, 2014

 

Silver Birch Trees grow on hill sides with very thin soil.
They also seed freely. You could probably get plenty
for free, with permission from the landowner.

29 Sep, 2014

 

What hedging is growing naturally round about?

29 Sep, 2014

 

Would a six foot high beech hedge be likely to grow in a 12 inch deep soil over an extended bedrock.

29 Sep, 2014

 

No.

29 Sep, 2014

 

I planted a Beech hedge on clay soil, lost 80% of the
plants. Then Monty said Beech will seldom grow on clay
soil.
You could always keep a Silver Birch hedge trimmed.
Someone once said its trunks always show up in
headlights on foggy nights.

30 Sep, 2014

 

Just wondering if Lonicera nitida Baggesons Gold would grow in these inhospitable conditions. It seems well nigh indestructible and its roots would grow sideways. The only problem I can see is if the site is exceptionally windy.

30 Sep, 2014

 

Might stand wind if its clipped closely and not to tall- good idea Wendy.
Try it with one first and see if it seems happy, so as not to waste a lot of money in case it doesn't work after all. It would need lots of watering until very well established though But trying to grow anything six feet tall on that depth of soil wouldn't work.

30 Sep, 2014

 

Carpinus, (hornbeam) will stand up to drought conditions rather than beech, but I would go with the fence idea as any shrub (apart from bramble) that I can think of would die eventually or be stunted.

30 Sep, 2014

 

You don't say how high you want the hedge to be. People are assuming you want something in the region of 5-6 ft high.
There is a suggestion to look at what is growing in the area - what do your neighbours have? I was thinking of gorse/broom and other plants of upland heathlands. Think windswept moors!

1 Oct, 2014

 

Gorse is the very devil to trim though, and it does seed around. But the trimmings are brilliant for getting a bonfire going...I wonder if blackthorn would survive either, its pretty tough. But whatever you choose I'd just start with one or two to see what happens. Even erecting a fence will be difficult if there is bedrock only a foot down. Perhaps a post and rail fence with brambles? Probably better than a solid one as less wind resistance so probably shallower footings would be OK.

2 Oct, 2014

 

Davecarr, what do you think so far???

2 Oct, 2014

 

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks. I think I might just try a mixed boundary with roses, and other bushes. Just want some visual divider of my land from the road.

8 Oct, 2014

 

You would need at least 30ins of soil to grow roses successfully - cheapest option would be to buy some native mixed bare root hedging - that way you could see what would grow without wasting a lot of money. Google bare root hedging and you will find loads of suppliers.

8 Oct, 2014

How do I say thanks?

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