Hi there
Just moving into Aveyron and wondering if anyone has used any type of natural fencing to split property. I mean hedges bamboo or other things like that and if so what did you grow. I need to cordon off 2 sides of a 600m plot
1 Like
I can’t comment on Aveyron specifically but I would avoid bamboo - it is incredibly invasive and your neighbours will hate you if you plant it.
The people next door to us in the UK have it on two sides of their boundary with us and every year it sends sharp spikes up through the tarmac of our driveway. I have asked them to remove it but so far they have done nothing except cut it back a little on their side, which doesn’t help.
I gather it is very hard to remove entirely in any case as it has to be dug out completely to get rid of the roots, and even then some can be left as it can travel over 10 metres underground.
So far I have mitigated it by cutting off the tops of the stems that come through and dosing them with weedkiller, since the neighbours are not willing to get rid of it from their side, but it comes back up the following spring.
So please - no bamboo!!
4 Likes
Some of the apricot orchards along the road from me have mimosa planted as hedging, not actually trees but more like bushes and they look nice with all the blossom.
3 Likes
Not bamboo!
Go to local perpiniere and buy mixed bare root hedging of local species (0nly in winter) which is cheap. They grow faster than paying a huge amount for exotic things grown in pots, and will be great for local wildlife.
5 Likes
Can’t help you with hedging, except for warning that bamboo seems to flourish in our part of the Aveyron and is probably best avoided (though useful to harvest elsewhere).
Anyhow ,welcome to the Aveyron - I think you’re the first SF poster to be in the same département as us - we’re alongside the Lot in between Decazeville and Capdenac and have been here thirteen years. But the Aveyron’s a very large département - where are you?
My wife and I will also be moving to the Aveyron in April. We will be near Saint-Christophe-Vallon. So guess we’ll have a few more in the Aveyron soon
2 Likes
It’s a good central location for Rodez and Marcillac market and the Vignerons de Vallon. Also good rando country - our international group does several walks a year from around there, so if you’re into that let me know, you’d be very welcome.
We would definitly be interested in that. I had a hiking app that had some nice trails around. We never did go because it was over 100(37C)+ the days we were free.
Great! At the moment most of our group are outside France - either in Spain, Portugal, or the Netherlands, but our next walk is on Wednesday from St Santin , which is both in the Aveyron and the Cantal, and maybe 30/35 minutes from you -you’d be very welcome to join us. Usually about 3hrs walking and a picnic or lunch afterwards
Ahh that would be great but we don’t get there till April 3rd but I will definity be interested in one after that
1 Like
You can get specific non invasive species. Would I recommend them ? Probably not.
We have eleagnus hedges. They are easy to trim and are fairly resistant to hot summers. Definitely don’t get bamboo. We inherited it in the area behind our gîte and thought it would look nice and form a barrier, but it spread horribly every year. Big spikes came up all over the large grassy area. We got a paysagiste to get rid of it and plant a more manageable mixed hedge.
We have a nearly 100 m long birch and beech hedge, but we didn’t plant it, it was already established when we bought the property. All I have to do is keep it trimmed, which is fairly manageable with a hedge trimmer and a ladder. I should probably invest in a telescopic one though, would make my life easier, and the wife would be happier that I’m not teetering on a 2m50 ladder on uneven sloping ground…
Not if you have dodgy shoulders! Very heavy and can destabilise you more. Have sight of OH lying at bottom of ladder as evidence.
1 Like
The telescopic, battery powered ones are surprisingly light (4/5 kgs)
I think ours is only 5.5kg. But when perched on top of a 4m ladder reaching over a wide hedge, and positioning it precisely it does feel rather more if not in first flush of youth.
Easy at ground level!
Buy him some weights for his birthday!
Not sure weights help bone erosion.
Get him an elagage team for his birthday - much safer. 
1 Like
Sorry, tend to think of that as an exclusively female thing (my wife has massive core strength though a lifetime of yoga, but can’t lift anything). Exquisite bone structure, but unfortunately it’s a tad too fragile.