Planting a new hedgerow

[Tulipomania]

Not sure if this is the best place to post on.

I have a field and would like to plant a new mixed hedgerow along one of the boundaries.

Has anyone done this who may have useful advice?

Thanks

Well planted one two years ago, we bought the back from Habitat Aid and they have a really handy guide of how to do it. Its growing really well now that it's taken and very few of the plants failed.

We planted a copper beach hedgerow about 4 years ago with bare root plants and it looks fantastic already. Great coverage and a beautiful plant.

What is going to be in the field?

I just bought some ‘eco’ hedges from Best4hedging.
I prevaricated for months but went with them as the hedge I bought consists of about 4 natural British hedges that the RSPB recommends as being good for birds.
Very happy with my purchase.
Not too much packaging but if anyone can recommend an entirely plastic free gardening company let me know.

Thanks.

The field has sheep grazing (not ours) intermittently. Sometimes gets cut for hay.

StyleDesperation How did you protect the new plants from deer?

Did you mulch after you planted?

EmbarrassingMama I planted a beech hedge in the garden about 10 years ago, which did really well. But this one needs to be a mixed hedgerow for biodiversity.

@Tulipomania our garden is quite urban so we don't have a deer problem. As you have sheep grazing in a next door field, I'd have a look at Habitat Aid's stockproof hedging bundle (I don't have any affiliation to them, I just support their aims!) We dug in lots of spent mushroom compost into the trenches when we planted and have kept mulching with similar/keeping the weeds down.

Good to hear your copper beech hedge is coming on well @EmbarrassingMama. We're planting 10 m of copper beech this autumn to screen off an area of the garden and I can't wait to see it in a few years!

The field has sheep grazing
Don't forget to check the toxicity of the plants eg yew is a 'no'.

Do you need to think about exposure to wind and/or frost.

The RHS has a list of native hedging plants that are good for wildlife, although no mention of stock proofing/toxicity.

We planted the RSPB native approved one from Best4Hedging. Just the little whips bareroot in November where we had inherited a massive leylandii hedge which we took down. It shot up, no mulch or anything. Hawthorn, blackthorn (sloes) and cherry something. My mistake was planting the briar rose supplied in too. It went crazy and I had to pull most of it out the next winter to give the rest a fighting chance. It's just right now and I love it. It's a wildlife magnet and about 6 feet high.

You could approach the Woodland Trust who are giving away hedging plants, enough for 30m if I recall. Beautiful plants, and with good information on aftercare

On the National Nature Reserve where I volunteer, plants are protected by individual tree guards about 4ft high. They’re still vulnerable to deer when they appear from the top but seem to suffer less damage.

The alternative would be a tall wire netting fence to entirely surround the hedge.

We used woodland trust for a mixed hedgerow of hawthorn, blackthorn, field maple and dog rose. The rose is the quickest growing and will need cutting back already after less than a year. The other are all doing well, we may have lost one or two but the rest are starting to knit together. Our sapling were only 30cm so it will be a few years before I can really call it an established hedge! But they didn’t cost much at all. link to Woodland Trust packs

You could read “The natural history of the hedgerow” (amazing book) to help you decide which trees and shrubs you want in there, and whether you want it traditionally “laid” , whether you need a ditch, and which are stockproof, and which are best suited to your soil.
My dream hedge would be hawthorn intertwined with hazel, with guelder rose self-seeding itself on the edges 🙂💚

Thanks. I have decided to get a mix from the Woodland Trust. Maflingo do you live in an area with deer and rabbits? Has yours survived both with the normal guards. Did you mulch?

I've looked at fencing to surround the new plants as suggested by MereDint but the cost is prohibitive.

We did mulch as it was late Oct when we planted and wanted to help them establish through winter, but no deer/rabbits that I know of, and the hedgehogs weren’t that interested!

When we had plants from Woodland Trust they came with guards about 50cm high.

At the very least you could use the short guards for the time being, then, when the plants start sticking their heads out, buy taller guards for half the plants, and double up the short guards on the other half. They’re spiral guards so ok to disentangle

Standard tree guards will help re: rabbits but you really do need to fence the sheep away from it. Even when it is established they will eat away at it, leaving the bottom bare. How long will the hedge be? You could use electric fencing to keep the sheep away. You can pick up energisers cheaply/second hand and plastic posts/poly wire are available relatively cheaply from places like Mole Valley. If it's not a long run consider chestnut pailings that you can buy on a roll. In the first summer I would consider watering if you have a prolonged dry spell (one good soak is much better than a little bit if water frequently).

The sheep already have an electric fence to keep foxes out, they won't be allowed anywhere near the new hedge.

@Tulipomania We planted a hedge this sping, I can thoroughly recommend www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/hedging/all

We planted bare rooted whips of:

• Spindle
• Field Maple
• Dog Rose
• Bird Cherry
• Wild Crab Apple
• Hawthorn
• Plum Cherry
• Sweet Briar Rose (Rosa rubiginosa)
• Wild Rose (Rosa arvensis)
• Cornelian Cherry
• Old Man’s Beard (Clematis Vitalbla)
• Guelder Rose
• Common Wild Pear

They do mixed native hedgeing which you could then plant with "specimens" from the list above.

Thank you all for the advice.

I do know Ashridge Trees and have used them for other garden-related things.

However my grant from the Woodland Trust has been approved so I will be using their native hedgerow whips.

Just need to get the site prepared now.