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Help with native hedging (1 Viewer)

Hi dizzy, love the avatar,

You seem to be well sorted out now. Funnily enough I've recently bought a rowan tree for the garden so great minds think alike eh?!!

My project for this year is to build a garden pond. We've removed the turf and have got to the digging stage. Problem is that it won't stop raining for us to get on with it. My pond plants have arrived today, so I think I might have to dig in the rain at this rate. Oh well.....

Cheers, :hi:
 
Hi Cathy,
Do you like it then...thought since this was a forum covering birds/garden that he'd be more appropriate, poor toby has been relegated..lol
The Rowan Tree?? did you see the same pic I did then..lol...it looked so nice and covered with juicy berries..just had to have it...lol..great minds indeed :D
Re the weather...never mind...it has to clear up some time..surely!! (she says hopefully ;) ) let us know how you get on with the pond when the weather permits. You are so lucky you have room for one. I just dont, the only space left which wont be under trees is the lawn itself. I've settled for a half barrel water feature I got in B&Q. It has a little mini barrel sitting on the top from which the water runs down into the bigger one..I think the tinkling of the water will be quite nice on a hot summers day !har har!!

Best wishes

p.s. I was so glad to read that another song thrush had visited you..heres hoping.
 
Hi Dizzy,

Ssshhhh don't tell anyone but we had to remove a tree so we had space to fit in the pond without tree cover. Having said that, in my defence we've planted loads of trees since we moved in so that should balance things out - she says hopefully. Rowan, beech, hawthorn, hornbeam, hazel, to name but a few - many of them are included in our native hedge that we've started.

Ours will be a still wildlife pond as we don't need the sound of water what with the burn and waterfall at the bottom of the garden, when it rains we also get the run off from the surrounding hills and it sounds really loud!!! so we wouldn't hear it anyway. LOL!

Going back to the rowan, there are a few in gardens locally and i must admit they do look gorgeous. We'll have to compare notes on how 'our' rowans are doing!

Cheers, :hi: :hi:
 
Ours will be a still wildlife pond as we don't need the sound of water what with the burn and waterfall at the bottom of the garden, when it rains we also get the run off from the surrounding hills and it sounds really loud!!! so we wouldn't hear it anyway. LOL!

Ooooooooh!!! you just said that to make me jealous a burn and a waterfall!!! no fair!!...lol ;)

A wee while before we can compare...I dont know about yours but mine is a 4ft twig at the moment!

Best wishes
 
My rowan is just a 4ft twig too, although there is the faintest sign of a bud appearing at the moment! I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you jealous, I thought you knew about it! One thing is for sure, it's unlikely we'll ever run out of water, it's never dried up since we've been here, and further upstream there is a reservoir which drains off into the burn. It runs out into the gareloch and sometimes during the summer I see dippers near it's mouth. The grey heron often goes looking for a meal too.

Cheers, :t: :flyaway:
 
Cathy H said:
My rowan is just a 4ft twig too, although there is the faintest sign of a bud appearing at the moment! I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you jealous, I thought you knew about it! One thing is for sure, it's unlikely we'll ever run out of water, it's never dried up since we've been here, and further upstream there is a reservoir which drains off into the burn. It runs out into the gareloch and sometimes during the summer I see dippers near it's mouth. The grey heron often goes looking for a meal too.

Cheers, :t: :flyaway:
Hi Cathy,
I was just kidding...although I AM jealous...lol. I live in a 'natural basin' down here, although the land rises on all three sides of us (if you can drive to get to the hills, which I dont..lol) Sometimes I wish I go back up home, but I wouldnt uproot the children since they were born down here!
Must be really nice to have a waterfall so close...I shall think of you when I lie in my chair listening to the tinkle of water in my barrell..lol ;) Sounds a nice place for walking too.

Best wishes
 
Hi Dizzy,

Yes there are loads of walks nearby, although exercise and me don't mix very well - I'm quite lazy in that way. The arrochar alps are nearby, and of course there's 'the rest and be thankful', not to mention flatter walks around the bottom of the hills. Did I mention one of my other difficulties is that I tend to get lost!!! even with a map. I've no sense of direction. I'm famous for it in our family! We decided to do a walk near Loch Eck one afternoon, it was only supposed to be about four miles and we must have walked about eight! Typical!!!

There must be some lovely walks near you too?

Cheers, :flyaway:
 
Lol Cathy...I'm in no position to talk about anybody!! Im useless at following them as well. One of my daughters and I both love walking, well one day a couple of months back we decided to try to find the disused railway line which used to run to the old Butlins, and, according to people we had talked to, had been allowed to 'revert back' naturewise and as it stretches for quite a bit would make a good walk. Well to cut a long story short, say..we were standing at point A looking at local map, so we turned right walked about a mile down the road, turned left walked another bit made another left turn and walked up about another mile, completely lost..stopped a man, asked for directions to the road the entrance is at, he showed us..could have kicked ourselves, it turned out that, if at point A we had just kept walking in a straight line, we would have came upon the entrance just a bit further along!! We had went in one huge circle..oops!!!
There are some beautiful walks here yes, and living where we do we have the choice of either a shore walk, a country one or two river walks,all within easy access, then there is the likes of Culzean Castle which has a four mile wood trail, so I shouldnt grumble...lol..plenty here if I just look for it.

Best wishes
 
hayfieldgolfer said:
Birds !

I do have black, red and white currant bushes in the garden, but I eat them. I will leave some for the birds this year. I have 1 branch that has grown roots as it has been in contact with the soil, which I will transplant and will try to get a few more branches to root by pinning them down.

Thinking about the following to put into my hedge.which I have made up from a mixture of naitive hedging and a mixed edible selection. Rugosa rose, blackthorne, cornlin cherry, and quickhorn as I have clay soil in the garden which is heavy. Will also add some common alder, elder, a common pear and a couple of silver birches .

Other suggested bushes are field maple, spindle, hazel, common buckthorne, wayfaring tree, sea buckthorne and myroblan plum. But these bushes do not like wet conditions and as I am on clay soil (does not waterlog that often) they might not be suitable.

I would like a hedge which will benefit the wild life and be as varied as possiable.

Maybe it's different in Europe, but thee is no need in Oz to layer red, black and white currants, just cut them back and into about 300 mm long pieces and stick them in the ground in early spring. Keep watered and they are away.

I like hawthorn. though they are declared an invasive, even noxious weed here, we use them. But our birds are not all that fussed about the berries. Though some species will taste them.

Growing apples in hedgerows rather than as an orchard tree creates food for Rosella's, bower birds, currawong's, crows, and silver eyes once the fruit is broken. The birds don't know how to share of course. But then enough is as good as a feast.

Just try anything that appears to work, and the birds will adapt. That's how they have survived this long, and most trees will tolerate hedging of one sort or another.
 
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