Passing kids, nosy neighbors, wandering drunks, escaping pets, there are many different reasons for fencing your yard but it is quite expensive to fence your whole yard and lets be honest there are more natural and economic ways to get some privacy against prying eyes. A solution with evergreen hedge plants is much better way, it is much more natural, usually it will be less expensive and it is also more effective in the long run. Full grown hedge plants are very effective to keep out intruders and it is stronger then a series of coiled barbed wire.



The effectiveness of the hedge is depended on the size of the hedge plants, if you are on a tight budget, you will probably buy small sized plants because they are much cheaper then the bigger ones. This way it will take you longer before your hedge plants have grown to a size where your privacy is taken care of. But there is a combination solution for this problem. There are cane fences that will last just a few years that can provide you with the necessary privacy in the time your hedge plants are growing. They are very cheap and are a good useful solution for this problem.

When you have a bigger budget you can decide to take bigger hedge plants and you can decide to plant them yourself or to hire a professional. But before you decide you first need to take a decision about the kind of plants you are going to buy.

Soil Type is important

If you are smart you choose evergreen hedge plants that grow well in your area, the ones more native to your area will grow best and will be more resistant against diseases and weather conditions. But not every area has a wide variety native evergreen hedge plants to choose from and when this is the case you need to buy a soil kit and determine your soil type. (sand, chalk, moist, dry) When you have determined the soil type you can choose hedge plants that thrive well there.

Popular evergreen hedge plants are privet,yew and boxwood but there are many other plants to choose from and you can also combine different plants if you like a more natural look and feel.

It depends on budget and time

Planting hedge plants is not difficult but it is time consuming and hard work, because you need to dig a lot of holes. So it depends on your budget and on your health if you decide to hire a professional or if you do it yourself. If you have a bad back, we would advice to hire someone.

If you decide to do this job yourself it is best to put some stakes in the ground and run a clothesline tightly over the ground where the plants should be planted. This way your hedge will be reasonably straight.

Next you need to calculate the amount of plants you are going to need, this depends on the full grown size the plant will have eventually and you need to do some research on the plant you have chosen. In general, you need to keep at least two feet between the plants.

Now you have what you need, you need to dig a trench all along the line where the hedge is coming. And you need to dig in that trench of two feet wide and four inches deep bigger holes for the individual plants, these wholes need to be twice as big as the root balls. When you have placed the plants in the wholes you need to water them and close the holes and the trench.

As you can see it is a lot of hard work but it is so much more rewarding to have a natural hedge instead of the expensive fences you see everywhere around you.