Absolute newcomer seeking advice please :)

Hi All,

As the title suggests I'm an absolute beginner when it comes to gardening but we have recently bought a house with lovely front and rear gardens and I'm determined to at least try to keep them that way!

With that in mind, our neighbours have had a fence installed along the front boundary which involved removing some established conifers but left a large tree because the trunk is on the boundary line and I said that I'd rather keep it. The result of this is that its down to me to maintain it and I have no idea where to start!

This is what we have at the moment ....



I'd like to shape the tree so that its fatter at the bottom and tapers to more of a point at the top (just to make it look nicer) and I have the idea to 'fill in the gap' between the body of the tree and the end fence post on my side with something to make it look nicer. (I told you I was an absolute beginner so apologies for the vagueness!).

If anyone has any advice as to how to go about trimming the tree myself (if that's possible/wise) or any suggestions about how much it would cost to get a professional to do the trimming I'd be very grateful. Also, any suggestions about how and with what type of plant/bush to fill the gap with would also be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

Dan.

 

Hello and welcome

I agree with Loofah, I think it is going to be a nightmare to maintain. And conifers tend to rob a lot of water and nutrients from the soil, making life difficult for any other plants you might want anywhere near it.

I also think that once you start cutting it to trim it, you'll find that it is a bit sparse as you get past the outermost bits, so I think it is doomed to never look neat.

I think if it was mine, I'd put something lie a birch or a rowan in its place, or even a nice hazel tree, then you get the added bonus of hazelnuts if the squirrels don't get there first. Maybe even a nice apple tree, then you get the double benefit of very pretty flowers in spring and of course apples in late summer/autumn.

 

Bit hard to see from the size of photo, but it looks like Leylandii. That;s a thug and best got rid of ... trouble is, whatever you plant in its place is going to be 5 years before it is anything special / decent size.

I don't have an answer to that - except winning the lottery and buying a mature tree

 

Welcome Dan

 

True, although IME they then sit still for a year or two. I've started buying smaller and letting them grow now, as I think it works out better, or "no worse", and usually smaller is cheaper. So only buying from Ashridge if they are cheaper [than smaller ones].

Buying a lottery-winning semi-mature tree will still sit still for a few years, but at least you would have a decent sized plant to look at in the meantime ... but given a lottery win I suppose we'd all being buying a mansion with the garden already fully sorted and spend our time on the Gin Deck, rather than on hands & knees weeding!

 

Dan