We did the same and replanted a hedge of indigenous plants and trees which is much more wildlife friendly. I think we found one (old)birds nest in the whole thing apart from that was a nature wasteland. The wood is quite soft but the stumps were a beast to get out.
liquidio
Nice stumps. That’s your jungle gym frame sorted!
Seriously though, nice work.
Do you need the screening? What you do next largely depends on that. Your garden is long and narrow so keeping some open width would be useful. Sometimes staggered trees rather than a continuous hedge can be effective at screening the areas that need screening, but don’t block all the light/width across the entire length of the garden.
New-Bee8999
Depends on what your ultimate goal is? Do you want privacy? If so, you’ll want some kind of screening, but less gargantuan and intrusive than the conifers. If you aren’t bothered about being overlooked, then that opens up more options for shrubs and flower beds etc – or growing fruit and veg if that’s your thing.
If you want a less intrusive screen then photinia make a nice informal semi–hedge – they won’t be a solid screen as the foliage is quite loose, but the advantage is they don’t block out loads of light. Easy to maintain and the red foliage is very pretty.
ETA – premature with the posting button! If you want a wildlife friendly option then hawthorn makes a brilliant hedge. Although it’s deciduous if you weave the branches in, it becomes quite dense and still gives a good screen. However if your garden is narrow, the spiky thorns will be a literal pain.
Splodge89
Great progress. And seriously hard work.
Also, just wanted to say, great beard!!!!
SmartSzabo
Each to their own.
Perhaps replace them with a mixed native hedge
Jiggerypokery123
Why would you start a job like this with no plan of what to do after??
ILikePort
Wow! Your neighbours must be over the moon!
What are you going to do with the stumps?
It seems like you’re doing a lot of work all at once!! Render, chimney, garden clearout and more?
Positive-Peace-8405
That is seriously impressive work! Bet you and neighbours will be glad of the extra light 🌞
How did you get rid of the tree waste? Curious as I’m facing a similar problem; 11 fir trees in a 15′ x 30′ garden! 😳 Friends have come over to help keep them under control but ultimately they need to be gone as I can’t keep up with the maintenence
Can’t wait to see what you do with the space next 🙂
WarmFlamingo9310
I had a similar situation and was left with about 22 stumps similar to yours, I used a mattock to dig around the roots, usually 3 big ones going out parallel to the ground and a 4th going down and under. The mattock would sometimes get through them with a big hit, otherwise I used a reciprocating saw.
The stumps at that height or maybe slightly lower can then be used as leverage to yank them out.
ohnobobbins
Well done! We had a garden with these and took them out, and took the stumps to the ground level. Grinding them out would have just been too mammoth a task.
I ended up planting lots of stuff just in front of the stumps and there was a sort of wild pathway behind created by the stumps with bark mulch chucked on top (keep down the weeds)
I would:
Take the stumps down to ground level
Add a very thick layer of good bark mulch
Add some willow towers this side of the stumps, and maybe even some arches on top, over to the fence. Creating a sort of tunnel effect over the stump path.
Plant some beautiful climbers, some different clematis types, passion flower, honeysuckle, roses, beside the stumps in the soil you’ve got (enrich the planting holes with chicken poo or something).
Create a winding border in front, and plant that out.
dalehitchy
Conifers are the worst and I hate them. I had them all on the front when I moved in last year. They were overgrown so much but I couldn’t cut them back by more than 10cm as you would see the dead growth.
Tore them down myself but the stumps are always the issue. Next ones to tackle are the ones in the back garden
12 Comments
Why did you kill them?
We did the same and replanted a hedge of indigenous plants and trees which is much more wildlife friendly. I think we found one (old)birds nest in the whole thing apart from that was a nature wasteland. The wood is quite soft but the stumps were a beast to get out.
Nice stumps. That’s your jungle gym frame sorted!
Seriously though, nice work.
Do you need the screening? What you do next largely depends on that. Your garden is long and narrow so keeping some open width would be useful. Sometimes staggered trees rather than a continuous hedge can be effective at screening the areas that need screening, but don’t block all the light/width across the entire length of the garden.
Depends on what your ultimate goal is? Do you want privacy? If so, you’ll want some kind of screening, but less gargantuan and intrusive than the conifers. If you aren’t bothered about being overlooked, then that opens up more options for shrubs and flower beds etc – or growing fruit and veg if that’s your thing.
If you want a less intrusive screen then photinia make a nice informal semi–hedge – they won’t be a solid screen as the foliage is quite loose, but the advantage is they don’t block out loads of light. Easy to maintain and the red foliage is very pretty.
ETA – premature with the posting button! If you want a wildlife friendly option then hawthorn makes a brilliant hedge. Although it’s deciduous if you weave the branches in, it becomes quite dense and still gives a good screen. However if your garden is narrow, the spiky thorns will be a literal pain.
Great progress. And seriously hard work.
Also, just wanted to say, great beard!!!!
Each to their own.
Perhaps replace them with a mixed native hedge
Why would you start a job like this with no plan of what to do after??
Wow! Your neighbours must be over the moon!
What are you going to do with the stumps?
It seems like you’re doing a lot of work all at once!! Render, chimney, garden clearout and more?
That is seriously impressive work! Bet you and neighbours will be glad of the extra light 🌞
How did you get rid of the tree waste? Curious as I’m facing a similar problem; 11 fir trees in a 15′ x 30′ garden! 😳 Friends have come over to help keep them under control but ultimately they need to be gone as I can’t keep up with the maintenence
Can’t wait to see what you do with the space next 🙂
I had a similar situation and was left with about 22 stumps similar to yours, I used a mattock to dig around the roots, usually 3 big ones going out parallel to the ground and a 4th going down and under. The mattock would sometimes get through them with a big hit, otherwise I used a reciprocating saw.
The stumps at that height or maybe slightly lower can then be used as leverage to yank them out.
Well done! We had a garden with these and took them out, and took the stumps to the ground level. Grinding them out would have just been too mammoth a task.
I ended up planting lots of stuff just in front of the stumps and there was a sort of wild pathway behind created by the stumps with bark mulch chucked on top (keep down the weeds)
I would:
Take the stumps down to ground level
Add a very thick layer of good bark mulch
Add some willow towers this side of the stumps, and maybe even some arches on top, over to the fence. Creating a sort of tunnel effect over the stump path.
Plant some beautiful climbers, some different clematis types, passion flower, honeysuckle, roses, beside the stumps in the soil you’ve got (enrich the planting holes with chicken poo or something).
Create a winding border in front, and plant that out.
Conifers are the worst and I hate them. I had them all on the front when I moved in last year. They were overgrown so much but I couldn’t cut them back by more than 10cm as you would see the dead growth.
Tore them down myself but the stumps are always the issue. Next ones to tackle are the ones in the back garden