[Closed] Reccomend me a....hedge (plus planting advice)

I think its the wrong time of year to plant a hedge, you need to wait until Oct/Nov. Then buy the whips off somewhere online.

Are you fixed on Beech? As you could go for a edible hedge, as hazel, and blackthorn fruit are a nice bonus and will increase the amount of wildlife in your garden.

Just planning ahead, as it's something we'll take up in earnest come autumn. I'm also in a hope improvement frame of mind.

Tell me more about edible hedges....

You can buy big packs of whips containing, blackberry, crab apple, plums, damsons, hazel, wild pears and blackthorn plants which will grow into a dense stock proof hedge which will also provide you with tons of fruit in the autumn.

Downside is they do look messy, upside lots of free fruit and lots and lots of extra wild life.

Do a search for edible hedging and you will find lots of online places which will send you out packs of whips.

I did ask at my local nursery about it, and they mentioned it isn't worth them doing them as you need to sell a lot of them to make it worthwhile and the shelf life is pretty short.

Our beech hedge was about 2-3' high when it was planted. Planting formation was about 18" apart in a zig-zag pattern with about 18" front to back, like this:
x---x---x---x---x---x
--x---x---x---x---x---x

Don't bother buying too big whips, smaller ones soon catch up as the bigger ones don't react as well to be moved.

Beech is makes a great hedge for the front, as leaves stay on in winter, mixed hedges which typically will include the plants outlined for edible hedges make better barrier livestock hedges (i.e. from fields).

Check it is beech not hornbeam which is similar, they thrive in different conditions so copy what is prevalent in your area.

Cheers both. Really useful.

Richc - I see what you mean now. When you wrote "edible", I thought some sort of vertically growing lettuce..!

We will be reinstating the hedge at the back of the house, where we're separated from the field behind. The previous owners tore up a 100 year old hawthorn and replaced it with a fence*. I was thinking of a hawthorn to knit in with the hedges either side, but maybe something fruity instead would be ace.

*While appalling, in their defence he was very ill and so they needed low maintenance. Shame, though.

Check it is beech not hornbeam which is similar, they thrive in different conditions so copy what is prevalent in your area.

Good call. I'll ask the neighbour with (what I think is) the beech hedge.

We want something that will be dense enough to provide some screening from the road. Thanks for the advice on age of the whips.

Beech will shed leaves at some point, so you'll have no leave cover for at least a month.

I love our beech hedge, it's green, however you could mix it with copper beech for a different look. They grow like mad in the spring and early summer and need a really hard cut back when it starts to mature.

At our old house I planted a hawthorn hedge with wildlife in mind, it's beautiful with the choice of white or pink may blossom.

Try not to cut back hedges in the bird nesting season, most birds love a beech hedge for nest building. Providing thick foliage with plenty of grub and creatures for the chicks to eat.

Went for Hornbeam myself. Now really starting to fill out lower down. Also planted mine in a double staggered row and used root grow to help the roots establish. Bought 40 whips from Buckingham nurseries (will deliver anywhere)and three years later not a single one died! Nice quality plants.

Cheers Jane - I love the colour of copper beech. And it's likely to be hawthorn in the back (with a little gap into the field behind so I can tackle the brambles. But the idea of fruit is quite cool, too.

sbodle - will look at that. it also goes a copper colour AFAIK. Is that right?

Beech will shed leaves at some point, so you'll have no leave cover for at least a month.

My well established doesn't still plenty of leaves on it in winter to provide visual barrier.

Anyway, it's copper beech or hornbeam at the front for sure, and poss with the whips bought online.

I rather like the idea of a double row to create a thicker hedge. Front garden has plenty of room to accommodate that.

Next question, where to buy a suitable gate for the front drive to keep Todle North and the tractors separated...?

We did this in Jan/Feb.

Bought 60x 60cm beach plants on ebay (these were cheapest).

Delivered by DHL from somewhere in NI.

Quickly planted and they are growing like mad now 🙂

Pfft, what's wrong with privet 😉

I did exactly what sbodle did, from the same place, with the same experience. Do this.

Next question, where to buy a suitable gate for the front drive to keep Todle North and the tractors separated...?

Beach makes a nice hedge which can be cut neatly.

Downsides it will need to be trimmed once if not twice a year. When the leaves drop they need to be raked up. All quiet a bit of work.

You might consider Holly (evergreen and has red berries which look great) or Laurel.

Good info from RHS

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?PID=351

We brought ours from

http://www.hedgenursery.co.uk/

in February, we went for a staggered double layer, the outer being common privet for screening and the inner being a mix of native and wildlife friendly IIRC. Out of the 200 we planted only 1 failed.

Plus we paid a little extra and had the roots dipped in Mycorrhiza fungi for added hokus pokus.

We opted to plant without a weed membrane which will supress nutrient robbing weeds from slowing your hedge growth, it seemed a hassle to plant with the membrane down, we now have to de weed the hedge every so often.

As with everything, preparation, preparation, preparation of the ground prior to planting, you could probably start this now.

We have an established hornbeam hedge out front, really love it in full leaf as do the blackbirds 🙂 and other hedge lovers It doesn't hold its leaves as well [as beech - which our neighbour has] through winter so less visual protection through those months. IIRC Monty Don's 'Complete Gardener' book has an excellent section on hedges (selecting and planting) ... lots of emphasis on preparation!

I went with Ashridge nursery earlier in the year and planted a [url= http://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/Thornless-Hedge ]thornless hedge mix[/url] and an [url= http://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/Edible-Hedging ]edible hedge mix[/url] it's all taken except a few odd ones which I planted late, elsewhere in the garden as they were surplus. So no probs.

All coming along well, as everyone's said and I found out they can only be planted at certain times. Unless you want to go for mature [url= http://www.readyhedgeltd.com/ ]"instant hedging"[/url] but that's about £50 per meter IIRC