By Saz
Not so much a gardening question but my mother-in-law's garden has a near vertical drop of about 6ft. Below which is a field which the farmer keeps cows. The cows rub up against the shrubs and over the years about 3ft of ground has been erroded away into the the field. The farmer has been doing some work to a track in the field and has kindly pushed some soil up against the bank and had suggested we plant some trees to hold the soil in place. He is going to put in a new fence to stop the cows trampling and rubbing the saplings. The farmer suggested we plant willow - what would you suggest? Nothing too high as to obstruct the view over the garden.
18 Mar, 2012
Answers
Willow grows very fast and tall so it depends how much room you have. Kildermories suggestions sound better to me. or you might try Rosa Rugosa.
18 Mar, 2012
If you are losing ground, I would suggest blackthorn mixed with the above suggestions as it will send out runners to stabilise the soil (shouldn`t reach the top of the bank too easily but will help stabilise the soil where the cows stand), has vicious prickles to deter said beast, and also might help with some xmas gin recepies.
Mixed hedges of native hedging plants really help native wildlife, so please not just one species. I would only suggest willow if you have lots of water for it to suck up, and are prepared to pollard/cut it regularly as it does grow so fast that it will soon outcompete other plants and will end up being a couple of big trees with big gaps between where the beast can invade between....
18 Mar, 2012
id build a wall once the soils been moved out of concrete blocks and grow what you like .
19 Mar, 2012
Thanks for all your suggestions
20 Mar, 2012
your welcome saz .
20 Mar, 2012
Previous question
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A mix of Hawthorn, Field Maple, Holly, Rosea would work well.
18 Mar, 2012