Planting a hedge

[Andy Hamilton]

I'm about to order some hedgerow plants to replace the fence in my gardens. I've seen packs of 2 year old bare rooted stock for sale realitively cheaply. The thing is they are a mix of plants that seem a bit odd to the novice hedgerow planter (ie me). The mixes are mostly hawthorn or blackthorn but depending on which mix you go for they can also include dogwood, acer, crab apples and plums.

Now I suppose what I want is hedgerow that is good for me to forage from and also good for the birds - so Blackthorn based, but then what else should go in the mix? What makes the ideal hedgerow?

[Green Aura]

We have a mixed hedge - blackthorn, beech, hawthorn, hazel, birch, sea buckthorn and holly. I've put a couple of field maples in too - my grandchildren may be able to tap for sugar . I've also got amelanchier and fuchsia to fill in any gaps and I was thinking about a Russian olive but have read mixed views on that.

Apart from the holly, which I haven't found a use for yet but it was part of the lot, all of it has at least one other function, mainly food, apart from hedging and windbreak, will be different heights, colours and interest.

It's still only a baby though - only grows about 3-4" a year because of the wind round here. I think I'll be enjoying my hedge from my bath chair.

Oh and don't forget underplanting - violets, wild garlic etc.

[boboff]

Rose's for Hips are good, and the Russian Olive plants are usefull too.
Willow is fast growing and can be used to other things like baskets etc, and more easily propogated saplings.
Try some currants and raspberries as well. Thornless Blackberries are good too.
Budliegh are fast growing and good for butterflies.
Depending on the Sun, think later on about Grape Vines and Kiwi Fruits.
Early days get some hops in the hedge as well, Good for your hoome brew.

[Thomzo]

What do you want the hedge to do? If you want it to screen your land from view then you'd be better adding some evergreens into the mix.

Holly is good for that as well as for Christmas decorations and to attract birds. Get a variegated one if you can as they are much prettier. You need male and female to get berries.

Laurel is also a good evergreen hedge but has no other use that I'm aware of.

Add in some honeysuckle for the bees, some of them have edible bits (but I can't remember if it's the flowers or the berries).

Underplant with lavender or rosemary on the sunny side to fill in the gaps. Neither likes being waterlogged so should do well under a hedge as long as they get enough sun.

If you want the hedge to keep in livestock then it'll need to be much denser and you might be better with a simple hedge that can be laid regularly. A mixed hedge will make this much more difficult.

If you want to keep undesirables out then the thorns are great as is the dog rose which also gives hips.

How much room have you got? Plums and crab apples are great for foraging but grow quite large. Will it overhang a neighbour's property? They may object and can force you to keep it cut to the maximum heights (from memory it's about 6' for side and rear, 4' for road facing hedges).

How much time will you have to keep it trimmed? Slow growing hedges take less looking after but a lot longer to get established.

Buckingham Nurseries http://www.hedging.co.uk used to do really good value hedging packs and would give loads of advice if you rang them up. But it's a long time since I've ordered from them.

Zoe

[oldjerry]

Just a thought ,all good stuff above ,obviously it has to be 100% native species,but beware.Qiute a lot of the Hawthorn (which will be a decent part of any mix cos it's cheap) isn't grown from UK seed ,and as such isn't exacctly the same therefore will not encourage such a a large number of species.The VERY best gthing you could do would be to trawl local hedgerows for seed and grow from there,but I appreciate that would take a few more years to establish.

[dustydave]

If you go into some woods (especially ones that have been recenty thinned) and look really close to the ground you can normally find a patch where there are lots of 1 to 2 year old saplings. Most of these won't grow into large trees and you'll be doing the wood a favour by thinning them out. You can sometimes gather 100 or so from a 1m x 2m area. If you collect when the soil is wet, then with a gentle pull them they'll come out out with most of their roots. Ash is the best for this, but most other natives are good. This way you know you are getting a good 'strong' local tree.

[happyhippy]

Hi Andy,I've also considered planting a hedge.I've looked at Victoriana Nursery,and their prices seem pretty reasonable to me.I rang them last year and they were very helpful about the sizes,and varieties that would best suit our garden and purpose.Hope this is useful to you.

[snapdragon]

I'd go for the mix with crab apples and plums, but avoid dogwood, it looks pretty but does smell like dog poo when you cut it.
Hawthorn
Hazel for da nuts
rosemary ? birds seem to love mine

mine's mostly a leftovers tray of poor (50p the tray) dried shrubs(which did well with tlc), a Maple grown from a pulled twig and plums found as 4inch seedlings in a hedgerow plus a couple of roses and holly and hawthorn (bird sown)