You could just put pebbles on membrane for the first 3 feet out from the fence, but it would be a pain when needles dropped down - they'd build up on the pebbles. Alternatively, find a builder's merchant that stocks "Element" paving slabs - these are the smaller, thick ones used in modern street paving (not the paviour type). The advantage with those is they can be laid on sand, butted up against one another, with no mortar between, so when the ground rocks and moves with the roots growing further, you can take them up, level out and relay easily. If you want to stop anything else trying to grow beneath them, use a thick membrane beneath the sand, straight on the roughly levelled off soil.

Excellent advice.

An alternative option might be to fence off the unsightly area where nothing grows and you could store stuff in that area.. The dogs couldn't get in so the ground wouldn't constantly be being churned and some grass would probably grow and you would avoid the dust /mud problem.

Wow! just joined with my question and great advice... Thanks Bamboo I'd prefer to do as you suggested as it'd be a lot less work. I wont be bothered about roots as long as they stay down so I'll look up those slabs. Thanks Anchorman, That would be a quick and easy solution but was thinking of using that area for a walk in run for my pet ferrets.. with the trees having some use as shade. Happy ferrets, safe trees and less mud! thanks for your help :o)

Try building a raised bed over the top out of stone, bricks or sleepers. Put a landscape membrane underneath before filling with soil. The tree roots shouldn't get into the new bed and you can plant it up with plants that like semi shade. Trim the hedge vertically upwards from the fence. We have a similar thing at the bottom of our garden and grow Camellia, Viburnum, ferns, Solomon's Seal, Fuchsias etc.l

Excellent idea Volunteer. I'd only add that if the trees are trimmed vertically upwards don't cut into leafless wood as it won't regrow and you'll be left with horrible brown stems forever

Sorry folks! I consider this quite unacceptable and if I lived here I would take plots of photos and report this to my local council as it is way over 2 meters high.

Hmm, well from what Tess has said, its clear that the neighbours don't like it either, but can't afford to have it dealt with - and they're not the only people in Britain in that position with these blasted plants.

Tess did say that her neighbours are nice and can't afford to have the trees removed but this is from the
From the Citizens advice Burea website

"If a neighbour’s hedge is tall and blocks out light, the person affected by the nuisance can prune the roots or branches. However, no one should attempt to reduce the height of a hedge without obtaining advice from a solicitor. In addition, some hedgerows are protected by law.

In England and Wales you have the right to complain to the local authority if your residential property is affected by a neighbour’s evergreen or semi-evergreen hedge which is more than two metres high. This may result in your neighbour having to reduce the height of their hedge. You must try to resolve the complaint with your neighbour before going to the local authority, and you may be charged a substantial fee before the local authority will consider the complaint. Either you or your neighbour can appeal against the local authority's decision.

Hedgeline is an organisation which can give advice to victims of hedge nuisance in England and Wales who are members of the organisation. Hedgeline has a useful website at: www.hedgeline.org."

Someone's still got to pay though, Anchorman... and therein lies the problem for lots of people.

Indeed.

I've propagated and sold many thousands of leylandi over the years (non since 1992 though) so i guess I've caused alot of problems but it's the people who don't trim their trees that are the real problem. Leylandi make a good hedge if kept to no more than 7 feet tall.

Although I think there are many better choices

why not build a dog run with slabs and put another fence up that you cant see threw . it wont matter if they move about then and from your back door it will look like just a smaller garden and your mane garden will be better for it to . strangly enough ive just asked a question litteraly about dogs and gardens and there wee and habits killing your lawn etc . you could build a planter out of heavy blocks and put some good soil etc in it or make a raised pond along there . the conifers would benefit the pond bye shading it and keep the algi down plus dogs love pond water .

I think you will find 'not being able to afford to' is no excuse and you find they can be made to do something about this.
Sorry Anchorman but the growers and garedening programmes did push Leylandii as the solution to privacy and they were sold to grow high and thick.

if you have a good set of steps and a good saw there not to hard to get down even if its one at a time . you can dump the trees on common land as they are biodegradeable bye the way .

No you cannot just dump them NP

you can on common land as me and my friend cut 6 down for his mum and someone thaught we were fly tipping and called the police who turned up and said its fine on common land thats how i know .

Not sure I'd want to be on such bad terms with my neighbours, Drc - if they really can't afford it, what's the point in making things even worse by court action - they still can't afford it (you can't get blood from a stone) and now there's really bad feeling all round. However, in the end, it's up to Tess...

no dont ever fall out with your nieghbers and youl lose the case as they were planted before the new laws came out .

"Sorry Anchorman but the growers and gardening programmes did push Leylandii as the solution to privacy and they were sold to grow high and thick."

You make them sound like drug dealers. I'm a grower and I've never pushed any plant to anyone and neither have any of the other growers i know.

People asked " what is a fast growing evergreen hedging plant?" and thery were told correctly "leylandi"

If people are too lazy to prune the top off the hedge once a year at a reasonable height it is the owners fault not the grower.

Just read through all of your comments and want to thank everyone for responding. Nosey p, I like the sound of the raised pond, at one time i was going to make a small corner pond.

There are mixed feelings about those trees: They are invasive in small proximity and yes I believe it's the owner's responsibility to maintain them.. (my neighbour to the right of me has a leylandii hedge which has always been looked after and remains at 6ft tall.. and she has grass too!!)

Those trees were planted about 20yrs ago ... i used to have swings for the kids and paddling pools in summer, have always had dogs and the grass always survived up until about 3yrs ago.

Since those pics i've managed to patch up other areas, apart from the bottom by the trees. Complaining to the council would cost a ridiculous amount for them to even assess the case and yes.. no point in having a costly falling out with neighbours and try make something positive from those blasted trees instead.

I've decided to build the walk in run for my very tame rescued ferrets and may take in a couple more when completed. I just didnt want roots pushing up the slabs as ferrets can dig out and squeeze thru the tiniest gaps!

The idea of raised (dog proof) flower beds at the sides is a good possibility too :o)

Once again, thanks for your comments, they're much appreciated..

Tess.

your welcome tess i have a picture of my raised pond in one of my blogs or look on utube under noseypotter theres some film on there somewear .

Noseypotter,

I only joined with my question a couple of days ago and I'm so glad I did.

out of sheer curiosity I had to look at your blog, erm 1 hour later and I still haven't managed to get to utube... lol!!

Cant help looking at your drawings and paintings! they, as well as your garden creations are fantastic! I can see you're a special person with a wonderful gift...

I haven't seen all your photos yet but so far... the Jaguar painting is my fave, totally amazing.. thankyou so much for sharing..

Tess x

your more than welcome tess lol thank you so much . as a child my mum always said i was special . she just didnt say it like that lol xx .