Hedges

Cork Rebel

Hi,

I am going to sow a new hedge and was looking for some suggestions and peoples experience.

The hedge I am thinking of sowing is mainly whitethorn, a bit of blackthorn, some holly and a few other native species. Basically I want a natural hedge to blend in with existing mainly whitethorn hedges.

I was just wondering if anyone has sown one of these, how did ye get on, did it grow well, is it easy to maintain etc.

Also what did you do to prepare the ground for laying the hedge, did you dig it, how wide of a trench, did you mix in manure, did you put in stone for drainage etc. Any advice and help would be appreciated.

I also have an older hedge at the front of the house which I cleaned up the other day, taking out all the brambles and nettles, however this has left me with big gaps in the hedge. Any advice on what I should do to reinvigorate this hedge would be great. As this hedge is quiet tall as well with all the growht at the top a few local farmers recommended cutting it right back and giving it a few years to regrow. Any better ideas.

Thanks for yer help.

Rebel

Calluna

Hi Rebel,

My advice on the new hedge is to plant a double row of hawthorn (essentially it will be a zig zag shape) about 50 cm apart. They also say that you have a more successful hedge if you cover the ground with polythene beforehand and plant them into slits in the plastic. It will prevent weed growth and the hedge will grow better for it. I've seen a hedge about 10 yrs old that really flourished (dunno if it's because of the plastic or not, but that's how he planted it). Some experts say that you should cut the plants down to about 6 inches after planting (not sure if it's first season or after they have taken?....would need to check I'm afraid) but I don't know how convinced I'd be.

There's a very good book called Ireland's Hedgerows or something....by Networks for Nature. I was at a demonstration once by one of the authors where he laid a hedge....this is a traditional management technique (not unlike what the farmers said to do) where you cut the bottoms of the hedge and lean the trees over entertwining them. THe new growth is upwards, but the bits that lean over fill the gaps. I don't know if I'd take it on myself, but it could be worth contacting your County COuncil heritage officer to see if they have the name of anyone local who might do it.....or they might even want a demonstration hedge and you'd get it for nothing.....tell them you want to plant a hedge with natives too and you'd be the perfect candidate.

Hope this helps....sorry if it's a bit vague but ask if there's anything else you're wondering...

ircoha

Cork Rebel:It should be well up by the time yee win the next 3 in a row:)

Calluna

More helpful comments ircoha....you seem like a real nice person.

Reyman

Thinking long term (like the next 3 in a row).

You might be better with a slow growing native species like yew, stagger double planted at 12-15" spacing .

It's evergreen and will save you a lot of grief in a few years time when you're hacking at the Whitethorn etc as it grows out of control and rips your hands off.

One simple trim a year and yew's fine !!!

Sonnenblumen

Cork Rebel - if you want realistic but good advice you have to give some more info on preferred depth, length, height and what level of maintenance/cutting you can manage.

Also whether it should be evergreen/deciduous or a mixture, and finally what are the prevailing conditions. You can cut (hard/severely) most hedging in early (Sept/Oct) autumn and they will settle down in time for good recovery by next spring.

Lex Luthor

I just planted some hedging...not sure what it was called, but its that one with the green leaf. They are about 3-3ft high at the moment but not very wide at about 15" apart. The label that came on them said they would spread a metre and grow to 2metres high. Should I take a good few inches off now before the winter to try and thicken them up?

Sorry for hi-jacking your thread CR...now I better change my sig after yesterday. Fair due to the cats though..deserved the win:(

artieanna

If you live in countryside and cattle are nearby be wary of planting yew - extremely posionious to cattle.
whitethorn/blackthorn are easy to grow (grow in double row zig zag) and aren't fussy about planting just dig add bit compost if you like (bareroot plants are cheap in november) freedraining ground preferred. (They wouldn't be my preferred hedge at front of a house I'd recommend escallonia it's a fast growing super hedge not native though)
Anyway I have grown whitethorn along stone walls (ditches) along fields and good plants will florish, they just need trimming 1 to 2 times yearly to keep in shape, and need to be allowed grow to at least five/six foot to look good.

to tidy up the ones you already have yes you can cut them back and they will sprout fresh as the farmer said, or less drastic would be to take as much height off them as you require and remove any branches back slightly shorter than the length you want them and they will sprout new growth, if you do it now you can clip them as normal next year. same with the ones with gaps in hedge clip back to encourage new growth...

Lex: need an image to know what type of plant it is..

GreeBo

Yep, as artieanna says, with any hedge what you want to do it keep trimming it
I top the "big" shoots on mine every few months, just cut it above a knuckle/leaf and in a few weeks it will sprout new growth from there.
Keeping weeds/grass away from the base will hel prevent it from drying out and will also encourage growth at the bottom of each plant.
You will see plenty of hedges where this was not done and the hedge is bare at the bottom, not what you want.

Dont cut it back too severly, unless its something like a rose bush, as you will just delay your hedge.
A little trim and a little food will go a long way to a full hedge.

Cork Rebel

Lads,

Thanks for all the advice, very helpful.

In relation to the existing hedge the difficulty with this is that it hasn't been maintained for a few years and all the growth is on top with nothing really at the mid or lower part of the hedge apart from the trunks of the hedges. I think they have really grown into trees rather than hedges at this stage, which is why it was suggested to me to cut them back altogether. If I just cut them back a bit at the top, i'd imagine all that will happen is that they will continue to grow on the top with nothing mid or lower down.

In relation to the new hedge, I think I will go with the native mix whitethorn, blackthorn, a small bit of holly etc. It will require more work than an evergreen but I think it will look more natural and blend in better.

Has anyone grown a beech hedge, what do you think of them, etc.

Thanks

Rebel

Fingalian

As for your existing hedge check out the info on 'laying' it.

http://www.thehedge.org/janhedge.htm

We did this to about 30' of hedge that had grown to about 8 feet high, it was mostly hawthorn. After two years newgrowth it is now about waist high and stockproof. Looks great.

Neil Foulks of the Hedge Laying Association of Ireland came down and ran a course and showed us how to do it.

http://www.sustainable.ie/directory/subcategory.php?id=31