Hedge advice hawthorn and leylandii

Question

I have a boundary to my garden which is adjacent to a public footpath approx 50m long. Approx 40m of it has 6ft fencing with hawthorn hedge at about 8ft tall to the footpath side. The hawthorn runs all the way down to the bottom but is very thin to the last 30m as it has grown so tall i.e. 20ft. I have cut all this back down to about 6/8ft but still this hedge is probably in partial shade due to two large neighbouring beech trees. I need some privacy to my garden as the hawthorn is hedge can be easily viewed and passed through. I have toyed with the idea of planting leylandii behind the hawthorn just to act as a fast growing screen until the hawthorn picks up (if it does).

I love the hawthorn because the birds like it and it has excellent security values, but the leylandii sounds good as a fast growing hedge but the horror stories and the fact its not native make me nervous. How would these two interact so close to each other i.e. hawthorn and leylandii 2 ft apart? Does anyone have any thoughts on this being a good or bad idea?

Answer 1

Apart from anything else,a newly planted hedge of any species is unlikely to succeed only 2 ft; away from a well established hawthorn hedge.The existing plants have exhausted the soill nutrition value,the ground will be dust dry and the hawthorn roots have spread far more than 2 ft.

Try layering the hedge,get a billhook,a pruning saw,a pair of stout gloves and cut most of the way through some of the main stems in the hawthorns.

Bend the cut branches horizontally,interweave them around strong stakes driven into the ground,stand on the stems and force as near to the ground as maybe.

Apply a heavy dressing of manure,or compost,leafmould etc; and the hawthorn hedge will thicken up from the base.

With careful watering and trimming an impenetrable wall will result.

This is a time honoured method,used in the UK for generations.