I want to plant a hedge round my house.
I’ve already got a secure fence, so it doesn’t matter if it takes a while to establish.

I’ve been looking at…
http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-activities/how-to-plant-a-hedge/
http://www.ukagriculture.com/conservation/planting_new_hedge.cfm
http://www.hertsdirect.org/infobase/docs/pdfstore/howhedge.pdf
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=377
http://www.cvni.org/biodiversity/advice/hedgerows/planning/

Those sites seem to have everything pretty well covered.
They all use weed killer or plastic sheeting though.
I’ve got a virtually unlimited supply of fallen oak leaves within walking distance.
Would they make a suitable mulch to suppress weeds ?

I take it all the gardeners are at work today. 🙁

Hi MTG,

I replaced my fence with a hedge of Hornbeam saplings about 3 years ago (during the winter). I chose hornbeam as they are suited to clay-like soils and they shouldn’t loose their leaves in winter (they turn brown like Beech trees)

I spent a little extra and bought 6ft saplings which, once planted I trimmed by 50% down to 3 foot. This is a little more trimming than most recommend, but I wanted to make sure they bushed out.
Plus, I ordered the plants and then it snowed/froze for about 3 weeks so the plants were in the shipment wrapping for more than three-times the recommended duration. By trimming them heavily and making sure they were planted on a good quantity of compost I didn’t loose a single plant.

I didn’t use pesticide or vast quantities of mulch, but hand-weeded to ensure big weeds didn’t compete with the new plants (didn’t worry about small weeds).

This past summer was the first one where it actually looked like a proper boundary (i.e. you couldn’t see through it and it grew to about 5 foot high).

despite the long time to maturity I still think it was an excellent move as by now I would have replced the fence panels at least twice due to them being blown over!

Hope this helps,

Ben

I would have thought that oak leaves would be a good idea and they would slowly break down over time and give a bit of goodness to the new hedge.

The only thing I would have thought is that weed killer or plastic sheeting would be more effective in suppressing the weeds, so you may just have to go round and check more often.

What type of hedge are you going for? If I was replanting my hedge I would go for beech I reckon.

Personally I would, some may advise against becuase the rotting leaves will remove some nitrogen from the soil.

Edit: Definately beech if you’re soil’s suitable.

your first link gives you the answers. but for what it is worth buy a mix of bare rooted natives now go for summer blossom and berries for winter bird food i like Hawthorne Lonasserna and Hazel and Cobs. do not use weed killer. I’d dig a trench to plant into and also break up the bottom. plant at a reasonable distance 30 to 50 Cm’s between plants depending on size . leaves would make an excellent mulch as will all your clippings from the hedge as it grows .

The last one i did was done for free with cuttings from my mums and seedlings found on waste ground and took 5 years to become impressive. That i planted into unprepared soil and just left it to grow.

Huh? How do rotting leaves remove anything from the soil?

Ben

I was thinking of hawthorn with the odd holly or blackthorn mixed in.
There’s the remains of a straggly hedge and a few standards already there. I want to tidy up and extend it.

Off out now. I’ll reply again later.

If you want a quick hedge then choice Leylandii conifers,they can grow over 2ft a year BUT they must be trimmed on a regular basis. So many people leave them until it is to late and cut into the dead wood in the centre and think they will green up, which they won,t.
You have to cut the fresh growth and once they are the required height, then take out the top and just keep trimming twice a year.

Wiki Clicky about nitrogen fixation.

I’m dubious of the overall impact, just its something I’ve had rammed down my throat with regards to using green woodchip as a mulch.

<looks round for the witch hunt on nosherduke996 for suggesting Leylandii>
🙄

If you want a quick hedge to be unpopular with your neighbours then choice Leylandii conifers,they can grow over 2ft a year

Fixed that for you. Though TBH a well maintained Leylandii hedge can be fine, but most are not. Thuja is often a better alternative if you want that suburban conifer look, or Yew if you’re doing it properly. For a mixed semi-native hedge it sounds like MTG’s on the right lines.

i went here
trees near bristol
they sell stuff for hedges and give advice – it’s been a couple of years but it’s pretty tall and bushy now – it doesn’t really need much help once you’ve planted it 🙂

Anything except Leylandii. 😛
I like the look of yew hedges, but there’s sometimes cattle or horses the other side of the fence. Isn’t yew poisonous to them ?
I’ll use the oak leaves as mulch then.
Thinking about it, there’s plenty of self set oak and holly around here doing OK with nothing but leaf mulch.