What’s wrong with my privet?

emmasrhodesXsAzr0sZ

Hello, hoping for a little advice on my privet. Planted a year ago and coming along nicely everywhere except the border with my neighbour. The plants here are still small in comparison to the rest and have leaves with yellow/brown/purplish patches. We put a small log roll border behind the plants on this side to try and reduce the amount of weeds and grass coming over from their garden, could this be having an effect? Any recommendations on how to save this row? (excuse the patchy lawn, it’s new)

Fairygirl

It looks very dry. Privet loves loads of water, so I think you need to get some buckets out 
Your new grass [and next door's grass] will also be competition for moisture, so it's important to keep at that until autumn/winter rain sets in enough. Keep a proper space, and a small border edging if possible, between the grass and the hedge border too, as that's also competition.
New hedging takes a while to establish, so I wouldn't worry too much. You can always give that stretch a little food in spring - something like Blood Fish & Bone is ideal. A layer of compost at that time as well will give it a bit of a boost for the rest of the season   

That log roll stuff won't have any effect, but it'll rot down by the time the privet is a good hedge. 

bédé

Sorry, I'm not a privet fan.

Lots of hard clipping to look forward to.  Very greedy.  Very Victorian.  Everyome had it in coastal Lancashire 100 years ago.

I would rip it out and start again.  Beech or Yew are my favourites.  Worth a bit of investment and grow faster than is generally thought.  Clipped once a year; and can be cut back hard to shape and recover if they get out of hand.

Fairygirl

The OP has only just planted it, and it's their garden.  
They aren't difficult hedging plants at all, and everyone up here had them too. I loved mine at my last house, and also in my parents' garden where it was a feature my entire time there. I returned to trim it each year for my Dad when he was unable to do it himself. I thoroughly enjoyed doing it for him. 
Just because it's common doesn't stop it being a very useful hedge either. Great for wildlife too when it flowers. 

Dovefromabove

bédé said:

Sorry, I'm not a privet fan.
…

I’m sure she’s devastated that you don’t like approve @bédé 🤣 

However privet is the hedge Emma has chosen, bought, and has planted it well as far as I can see. It doesn’t look as if clipping a hedge of that length will take more than an hour every so often … that’s how long it takes my OH to clip his mum’s hedge of a similar length when we visit. 

I understand that it might be too much for you to take on nowadays Bédé….  possibly Emma has a year or two to go before she finds an hour’s clipping three or four times a year too much for her 😊 

Anyway, Emma asked how to care for her privet hedge … not for our approval of her aesthetic taste … and @fairygirl has said everything I was going to say. 

There may be a reason why Emma chose privet … it has many good points … and perhaps it goes with the age and style of her home … perhaps she likes retro aesthetics … or perhaps she just likes privet. 😊 

emmasrhodesXsAzr0sZ

@Fairygirl @Dovefromabove thank you both very much. Watered profusely after taking those photos and OH is now upgrading from a watering can to a hose! Thank you very much for the advice, this is the first time we’ve had a garden and it was a weed ridden nightmare when we moved in! Been really enjoying watching them grow from teeny little stems last year to actually resembling plants now 😊

Thanks again, this forum is a godsend!

Dovefromabove

It’s a pleasure to be able to help @emmasrhodesXsAzr0sZ

Enjoy your garden … that’s what it’s for 😉 

Fairygirl

You seem to have done very well with your plot so far. As @Dovefromabove says - enjoy it and enjoy experimenting and planting.