Tomatoes.......I'll keep 3-4 and the neighbours get the rest......
Anyone into gardening here?
- Thread starter shanekingsley
- Start date
Our overgrown hedge may be on its last days. While it looks good at a glance it is 10 to 12 feet thick and my neighbour and I are both losing about six feet of back yard. It sounds like he's willing to take the financial hit for the fence and I can do what I want on my side. The hedge is technically on my side, the trunks anyway.
I'm undecided with what to do.
1) Replace the hedge with another batch of swamp cedars, a cheaper variant but it will take longer to fill in.
On the plus side the variant has proven itself as the existing one is over 40 years old. Pruning it back isn't practical.
The downside it that swamp cedars grow like bushes and only keep their hedge shape by constant trimming.
2) Replace with Skybound cedars which grow straight up, requiring less maintenance.
They are more expensive and possibly less tolerant of the soil and moisture conditions.
This is likely a five figure tab so I don't want to do it again in four or five years.
3) Accept looking at a fence and put pretty things in front of it. (Like M/C that would be cheaper than hedges)
With a fence behind whatever gets put in the new hedge has to be planted a few feet away from the fence. That negates a lot of what I gain in yard space.
I guess a dozen or two artificial Christmas trees would look tacky.
I'm undecided with what to do.
1) Replace the hedge with another batch of swamp cedars, a cheaper variant but it will take longer to fill in.
On the plus side the variant has proven itself as the existing one is over 40 years old. Pruning it back isn't practical.
The downside it that swamp cedars grow like bushes and only keep their hedge shape by constant trimming.
2) Replace with Skybound cedars which grow straight up, requiring less maintenance.
They are more expensive and possibly less tolerant of the soil and moisture conditions.
This is likely a five figure tab so I don't want to do it again in four or five years.
3) Accept looking at a fence and put pretty things in front of it. (Like M/C that would be cheaper than hedges)
With a fence behind whatever gets put in the new hedge has to be planted a few feet away from the fence. That negates a lot of what I gain in yard space.
I guess a dozen or two artificial Christmas trees would look tacky.
How long do you plan on staying in the house? I think that may come into play. Whatever you install, you want it to look great when you plan to sell but I wouldn't put much weight on anything after that. Solid chance new owners have different plans and cut it down anyway.
If this is just for a screen then what about tall growing grasses? We have some that grows rapidly to around 7-8ft tall every summer and even the dead stalks stay tall in the winter. Adds a bit of a tropical air too.
If a 5000 square foot lot is a million dollars that's $200 per SF. If six feet by fifty feet is hidden that's $60,000 of property that isn't obvious when the time to sell comes along.
For Toronto, it's a good location and the neighbours are good so this isn't a sales spruce up. We like the privacy without it looking like cattle pens or Stalag Etobicoke
Personally I like small towns but as one ages one needs more medical visits. I knew a guy that retired to Kincardine and after a few years of health decline ended up having to go to London several times a week to see specialists. It got to be too much.
He sold when Hydro was bailing out staff and subsidizing the crashing sales prices. Since he wasn't part of hydro he took the hit personally.
