Planting Privet Trees
Privet trees (or hedges) are planted mainly for privacy around a house or yard. They are evergreens and can provide privacy year round, blending into the landscape. Privet plants are fast to grow, easy to plant and very hardy.
It is best to start with the bare root plants rather than privets grown in pots because they take to growing much faster. If the plant is started in the ground it will feed off the organic matter and grow quickly. The season for planting these bare root plants is from mid fall to late winter. You should prepare the ground that the tree will be planted well as the privet could be around for up to 80 years after planting. Do this by ridding the soil of perennial weeds, large rocks, tree roots and anything else that will get in the way. Also till the soil a bit so the roots can grow and move around.
Before planting, prepare the bare roots by wetting them well. After removing them from the bundles they are packaged in, place them right into a bucket of water. It should be relatively easy to make a hole for each plant if the soil is soft enough, but it might be easier to space the trees evenly from one another in a trench. Make the trench a bit wider than the roots but no deeper.
In the trench, plant the privet plants in a row. A single row is all that is needed since they grow so big and thick. A good rule of thumb is no more than 3 plants per meter any more would be overcrowding. Make sure the plants are planted firmly and that the soil is the same level as before it was dug out. Note that it is better to plant the privets too shallow rather than too deep. Be sure to water the privet trees well.
