Novice gardener & planting a new hedge. Too much to take on?

[DonDrapersOldFashioned]

Hi all.

I am an enthusiastic novice gardener. I planned and planted our very basic 70ft x 40ft back garden from nothing (literally a patio and fence to fence scrubby grass - previous owners had a dog & weren’t into gardens) to a now mature combination of small trees, shrubs, grasses, ground cover, roses and climbers. So I have some experience of choosing plants for specific areas and conditions and have experience of actually digging the holes and planting in them, as well as maintaining plants. Just to give you an idea of where I am ability-wise.

Anyway, I want to plant a hornbeam hedge in my garden (not on a boundary). The soil isn’t great, thanks to a pair of enormous protected cedars of Lebanon. However, afaik, hornbeam is pretty tough, so I’m hoping I’ll be ok if I enrich the existing soil when I plant them. Plus, i’m thinking i should probably put some moisture retention crystals at the roots too as the trees suck the moisture out the ground in that part of the garden.

The hedge would be about 9 metres/30ft long and ideally 1m/3+ ft wide. How deep/wide does the planting trench need to be? Can I reasonably do it myself with a spade or is that utter madness?!

Certainly possible to do it yourself with a spade unless the ground is like concrete. I would suggest ordering bare-root whips (cheaper and will establish just as well) and heel them in when they arrive. Mark out your hedge line and dig a trench about 30cm wide and deep. Break up the bottom surface with a fork. Add compost or well rotted manure, or bfb to the trench and plant the whips.

You don’t have to do it all at once! You can plant bare-root until March, though personally think it’s best done by New Year. Crucial thing is to firm them in well and make sure they never dry out in their first season.

Thanks trethew, that’s really useful.

Ground isn’t like concrete

We planted out front beech hedge in half a day in sleet with the baby 'watching' from the pram and passers-by looking on in horror at our neglect - fond memory not

You can definitely do it.

Plant a couple of extra whips in a spare gap somewhere - if any bits of hedge fail in the first few years you can then backfill them.

That’s good to know, Lt. It’ll just be me planting, DH isn’t interested in green fingered jobs.

I planted a mixed sloe and hawthorn hedge out. Keeping spares is a great idea. The worst bit was keeping it well watered in the v dry spring and summer that followed as had to use watering cans...

But it was easy. I’d second using manure or newspaper instead of the moisture retaining crystals as it’ll add goodness too.

That’s a useful tip re newspaper, i’d never have thought of that. We have a hose that’ll just about reach to that area, so first season watering should be manageable.

How do I prepare the newspaper for the hole? Do I need to rip it up? Soak it?

Bit of both yep. Mueller rotted manure too. Even a little bit will help loads.

Thank you

Rather than putting manure and other organics into the soil, water the hedge in then use a 100mm depth of hardwood woodchip mulch to 1m from stems. Pull the chip away from the root collars. This will suppress weeds, moderate soil temperature and reduce evaporation. You'll need to water them at least weekly from when the leaves start flushing until they brown off, for 2 years from planting. This is necessary even when it rains.

I planted a new mixed native hedge 4 years ago (about 20 ft long) and it’s going well. The hornbeam has been the best native in terms of toughness (the beeches died), growth (steady and even, unlike the hazel which is going nuts), disease resistance, (the blackfly get the guelder roses when my back is turned 😂) and user-friendliness (unlike the blackthorn which are vicious bastards). The hornbeams do their thing reliably and are buttery yellow in the autumn, lovely 😀

Ah, that’s interesting. Thanks gobbin. I definitely want to go for hornbeam, the soil isn’t wonderful so it does need to be a tough plant.