By Patpalmer
Three months ago we employed a local gardener to plant a willow hedge. To date the whips show. I sign of life, no shoots at all. The gardener says that is ok and we won't see any thing for a ore three months. I cannot believe this is true, nor that these whips are anything but dead. Having looked at other web sites depicting willow hedges, I am not even sure he has constructed it correctly. I have attached a pic to show you. I would appreciate your comments. (We are pensioners and have paid this gardener for several days work already to do this)
2 Jul, 2015
Answers
Three months ago seems the about the right time to plant the hedge, earlier probably would have been better. You would think that they would be showing signs of growth by now as they are a fast grower.
I would be inclined to contact him again and ask him to come and look at them, hopefully he will of the honest sort and will do so. If not I would contact the council (play on the fact you are pensioners, I do, no good getting old without some benefit!) and see what they say.
Website here, you could also contact these and see what they say, they can only not reply!
http://www.kingsbarnfarm.co.uk/html/living_willow_fedges.html
2 Jul, 2015
Sorry Bamboo! Our posts seem to have crossed, at least we both suggested the same website!
2 Jul, 2015
Yea, same site, different pages though!
2 Jul, 2015
Thank you Bamboo and Huneysuckle for your responses, I will get back in touch with my gardener and ask him to come and see the whips and see what he can suggest as a way forward. Behind the potential willow hedge is a Devon bank which I was hoping the willow hedge would screen off and help us deal with all the brambles and weeds which grow into our garden. We did have initially put hazel hurdles up as a screen, but after just 3 years they were completely falling apart and we had to remove them. As the garden is wide (85') but quite narrow (front to back is around 15') I'm really not sure if a living willow hedge is the answer, as it might take up too much room and/or be in constant need of trimming throughout the summer to hold it back. If you have any suggestions I would really appreciate hearing them. Once again, many thanks for your help.
7 Jul, 2015
If all you want to achieve is to restrain the growth on the other side of your garden, the most effective and efficient method would be a 6 foot fence with an additional foot of trellis on top, preferably with concrete gravel boards at the base, in contact withthe ground, making a total height of about 8 feet. Even then, brambles may loop over the top, but at least you could see them before they had a chance to root your side. Not an inexpensive solution though...
8 Jul, 2015
It would be interesting to know if the gardener turned up, what he said or if they are at last growing?
15 Jul, 2015
The way he's done it isn't too bad, it can be done in this fashion, though its more usual to see a criss cross design. He's also only planted a single row, which I assume is because there's insufficient room for a double or triple row. I would have expected some signs of life by now, certainly - you may be right and the willow canes are actually dead. Its important to keep the soil moist after planting a willow hedge, so depending on how much rain you've had, and whether a mulch was applied, and how close the planting in front is, they may have received insufficient water, particularly given the proximity of the large shrub or tree in the background - they like moist soil conditions. You can scrape back a bit of bark in various places with your fingernail to check - if its brown and dry beneath, its dead, but check near the bases too. The following is a link for you to paste into your browser and have a read - it might give you some idea as to how well the job was done in the first place
http://www.kingsbarnfarm.co.uk/how_to_plant_willow.html
2 Jul, 2015