A Yew hedge was not to be - a costly tale of death and destruction.

A sorry tale of death by drowning....

Following on from my last blog about Strawberries my client at this particular site wanted to talk about an issue he had with some newly planted Yews. He wanted a hedge along the side of his driveway parking area so to screen it off from the garden but something had gone seriously wrong. 

The area concerned is level with the gravel driveway but about 30ft drop via a grassy bank to the main lawn. He thought that it should drain well as most people would think however history of this sorry tale will show otherwise. 

The Yews drowned

Anyway I looked at the area, assessed the ground, and could immediately see (and smell) what had gone wrong. Water from the drive way has poured into the trench that was dug and not drained away thereby making a pond in which the poor and now well and truly dead Yew plants are located. 

A dead Yew is easy to see - its foliage is a light yellow to brown in colour, the needle like leaves are crispy to the touch. When in this state they are beyond recovery - they are fit for one thing and one thing only......the bonfire. 

Why did this happen? 

Well that's relatively simple to answer. Water from the drive way had only one way to go  - down the slope and onto the grass but in the way was this hedge of newly planted Yew. However instead of running away onto the grass, the water puddled and sat in the trench like a pond.

The soil is heavy clay - you know the type of clay that you can make pots out of - and as he had dug the trench with a digger whilst the soil was wet, he had inadvertently smeared the clay at the bottom and sides of trench thereby forming a water tight seal. Its the same principle as when a pond is made, you form a clay block so any water can not escape. 

The water couldn't get past this clay so just sat there drowning these rather expensive Yew bushes. To make matters worse they were planted with the same clay that was dug out thereby doubling the problem.

The answer was simple - but it'll be a lot of hard work.

It required the removal of the Yews and this was simple - upon digging them up they smelt rotten and the water a little stagnant so this was definitely the cause. 

Best free draining soils

Then the trench was re-dug and all the old clay removed. After which the trench was dug further down - another 1ft (300mm) - and a land drain installed running down the slope to an existing soak-a-way. This was then covered with a permeable membrane and pea shingle.

New trench with drain installed 

A good quality free draining soil was purchased and the trench back filled.

This was left for a few weeks to settle and to ensure the free running of any water coming from the drive way. 

It all seemed to work ok so replanting was the next step.

Then came the bad news for my client - he'd have to buy some new plants....

 As he wants a hedge with plants that are fairly well advanced these plants would cost him around £100 each. They'd be are around 10 years old so in all fairness its not that much considering the cost of production but still its almost a £1000 investment which if it goes wrong is very costly indeed.

sometimes clients have delusions of grandeur

New hedge completed 

When we were both happy that the new trench, the drain and the soil where doing as expected it was time to plant. Once done the hedge would look better than the failed one it replaced. 

Hopefully now my client will get the hedge of his dreams.... time will tell and I'll keep you posted on how its doing. For further help on how to grow Yew see my 'How To' blog. 

If you have any questions just drop me a comment.

 Happy gardening - Geoff

Blog 02/12/2025 Gardening by Geoff.-  horshamgardener.blogspot.com

 

All information contained in this blog and all the others is purely the opinion of the author and should be taken with advisement. please read the legal disclaimer.  https://horshamgardener.blogspot.com/2025/12/sorry-boring-legal-stuff-updated.html