Stony ground / Hedging

Senna

I have banks/mounds around 3 sides of my garden, i was hoping to put hedging along these but i went out today to look at the soil, and there is only 2.5' of soil in places (at most 4' in others), then i hit very stony ground.
These mounds very made by the builder and i assume he used hard(er) fill to build up the mounds then put some top soil to cover them.
Is there any hedging that could be planted so shallow? The area is quite exposed as well.

Senna

Anyone any advice?

Antiquo

Realistically you don't have enough soil to grow anything but grass by the sound of it. Especially on an exposed site you would be nurturing bonsai's.

You have to improve the soil if you want to plant a hedge and from what you describe the best thing you could do is dig a trench in the mounds 60cm x 60cm fill with good top soil plus plenty of compost and plant away.

Sonnenblumen

OP - a trip to West of Ireland eg Connemara will provide you with many ideas on what grows well in very tough ground conditions (Hawthorn, Gorse, Fuchsia to name a few).

I would be reluctant to do any significant trenching of the Embankment.

jezko

You could plant a bank of brooms ( Cytisus sp..) have seen a section of the N11 where the road has been cut into a hill side exposing shale/stones along one side, not sure if the brooms were planted or self seeded looks like latter

Granted they tend to be short lived still you'd could get a decade and more out of them...

Antiquo

Senna wrote: »

I have banks/mounds around 3 sides of my garden, i was hoping to put hedging along these but i went out today to look at the soil, and there is only 2.5' of soil in places (at most 4' in others), then i hit very stony ground.
These mounds very made by the builder and i assume he used hard(er) fill to build up the mounds then put some top soil to cover them.
Is there any hedging that could be planted so shallow? The area is quite exposed as well.

From the above I read that OP would like a hedge but has identified soil of only 2.5" to 4" deep (fertility unknown but rather irrelevant seeing as there is so little of it) beneath this is very stony ground (most likely sub soil and spoil useful for growing nothing of any substance as far as I was taught or have experienced). Also and to add further stress to the proposed hedge the area is quite exposed.

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

OP - a trip to West of Ireland eg Connemara will provide you with many ideas on what grows well in very tough ground conditions (Hawthorn, Gorse, Fuchsia to name a few)..

Why would you limit the OP to Hawthorn, Gorse or Fuschia? If the OP decided to plant a Gorse hedge how should he plant it, within the existing 2.5" or so of soil or in the stony ground. If the OP dug into the stony ground should they enrich the soil in anyway or just dig a couple of hundred individual holes and plant the Gorse hedge backfilling with stony excavation? Loads of little joined up holes in a line constitute a trench where I come from.

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

I would be reluctant to do any significant trenching of the Embankment.

Or as I suggested you could dig a trench (no mention of significant trenching) on the bank/mounds (not embankment) remove the rubbish and put in something that will provide the hedge with sustenance for many years allowing it to develop quickly, grow strongly and cope more easily with adverse weather. While also vastly increasing what plants could be used other than Gorse, H & F.

Finally I would not have Gorse any where near my house for a number of reasons fire risk being one.

Sonnenblumen

Antiquo wrote: »

From the above I read that OP would like a hedge but has identified soil of only 2.5" to 4" deep (fertility unknown but rather irrelevant seeing as there is so little of it) beneath this is very stony ground (most likely sub soil and spoil useful for growing nothing of any substance as far as I was taught or have experienced). Also and to add further stress to the proposed hedge the area is quite exposed.

Finally I would not have Gorse any where near my house for a number of reasons fire risk being one.

Why don't you read the OP's post, it looks like feet not inches.

BTW Gorse is rarely a fire risk, but people idiots are.

lottpaul

Yes - a lot depends on whether its 2.5 feet or inches.
How high/thick do you want this to be?
Some forms of grasses and phormiums will grow very well in very little soil. The phormiums are as tough as leather but are evergreen and can be attractive. Max height would be 4-5 feet, depending on variety.
Some of the grasses are more delicate but very attractive, with plumes of flowers that last all winter long, but are not very tall.
I would avoid pampas grass if there is any liklihood of animals or people walking/playing etc within range of their vicious leaves.
Fuschia - such as the "wild" variety of the south and west is very attractive in summer but very unattractive for 5 months of the year. However it does grow almost anywhere.