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Native Hedging

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Has anyone planted a native hedgerow?

 

We are thinking of planting one along the boundries of our new garden and I was wondering how fast they grow. The boundries at the moment are open except for some wooden posts and a few strands of wire which will not keep the dogs or the chickens in, the farmer will not be pleased if his wheat crop is trampled or pecked at.

 

The plant pack I have seen consists of Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Hazel, Field Maple, dog rose and Guelder Rose. Are there any other native hedgerow plants we could use? and are there any native Scottish plants :? we could include?

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It will be a lot of very hard work. first we have to remove (if we are allowed :? ) about 20 very tall douglas fir trees. I think they were planted as a wind break. Now they are over 20 foot tall and the bottom 10 foot of the trees have no branches so are not keeping out the wind. The trees are on the north and west side of the property and make that part of the garden and house very dark and blocks out the evening sun. The ground underneath is very dry and nothing grows there, so is wasted space.

 

I have read that some councils give out grants for this type of hedging, I will look into that as we need lots of hedging.

 

this is the site I have seen the hedgerow packs, the prices are good compared to others www.btcv.org.uk

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That sounds like an interesting project :D

 

Is this link of any use? It states growth rates dependant on size of original plants when planted.

 

http://www.hedge-plants.co.uk/hedgehelp.html

 

I've also read somewhere else that the plants should be planted at an angle to encourage thicker growth just above ground level, but that isn't mentioned on this site :?

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Yes, I've read that as well........

 

We planted native trees at our old house and we included Blackthorn - lovely thorns it has :shock: but it keeps animals in/out!! We used to coppice the hazel and use the long branches as bean sticks.

 

We used Buckingham Nurseries http://www.hedging.co.uk/ I don't know how the prices compare? - we used them for some fruit trees as well although we have an organic fruit tree grower nearby now.

 

We need to look at available grants as we want to have an acre of mainly Ash trees for coppicing.

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I planted a mixed hedge of hormbeam and dogrose. The hor beam is slower to get going but the rose flowered from the first summer onwards. Both can be a bit straggly at first but they get a good haircut every autumn and that encourages them to bush out a bit. They have been really easy to keep, no watering after the first summer and one haircut per year. Not the fastest growing but despite three major haircuts my hedge is getting up to about four foot high and begining to thicken up nicely.

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I helped my folks to plant a wildlife hedge... great if you've got lots of cutting down to do.

 

I'll try to describe it if I can; you bang in 2 parallel rows of sturdy stakes, about 2 ft apart and 2ft between the rows, then using all the branches and material that you have cut down from around the garden, lay it lengthways in between the rows of stakes. It can be topped up regularly when you're pruning and provides fantastic cover for all sorts of beneficial bugs, plus a great hiding place for hedgehogs. And nesting and food for all of them. 8)

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We planted a hedge round our front garden - pyracantha. It's lovely, pretty flowers in the spring, red berries in the winter for the birds, plenty of thorns to stop people cutting the corner and coming on to our garden, evergreen, extremely fast growing (brought them at approx 18" they are now 5.5ft plus tall in 2 years). Just have to make sure to wear gloves when touching them.

 

Karen

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I like the idea of the wildlife hedge claret, there will be a lot of cuttings and cutting down in the garden.

 

Everyone has given me lots of ideas for plants, shrubs and hedging :D

 

The garden is over 3/4 of an acre so we will have to do it in stages as and when we have any spare :lol::lol: money.

 

I really hope we can attract some wildlife to the garden (except Foxes) which is sadly lacking in our present garden :?

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You will have load of wildlife there - we have an open shed with a small shelf with a drawer which is missing about 4' off the ground and a robin has nested in the middle and a blackbird is nesting on the top - so an 8" two tier nesting rack in the shed with 2 cats and another one lurking I hope all are ok. My two dont really bother and we always have blackies every year fledging and we love to watch them.

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