We are having a nice warm autumn with just a few cold nights. If you are thinking about planting a hawthorn hedge this winter, now is a really good time to strike a blow for the good guys and go after a few weeds. Perennial weeds like bindweed, docks, thistles, dandelions, ground elder and the rest behave just like any other deciduous plant as they head towards winter and dormancy (which is the plant equivalent of hibernation). They build up their food reserves to see them through the winter and to fuel the surge for growth that happens in Spring.

Another hawthorn tip for those of you who planted your quickthorn (same as hawthorn) whips last year.  Hopefully you followed our instructions and cut each plant back by half when you planted it.  Equally hopefully, they all survived the weird winter last year and the very dry April.  (Second dry spring in a row for those who are counting).

Tags: Hawthorn, Hedging

Always good to get a mention in the papers.

The most recent was by Elspeth Thompson in the Sunday Telegraph, talking about edible hedge plants.  Always unbiased, we think it is an excellent article, which apart from mentioning Ashridge Trees as the place to buy your edible hedge plants covers the main basics of foraging. So you get an insight into what varieties to plant, a step by step guide on how to plant an edible hedge, pointers to good recipes and so on.  If you want to read more, you can find Elspeth’s edible hedging article here.

It is all hedging at this time of year….

Last year, a certain well known garden presenter who needs remain nameless gave some appallingly bad advice regarding planting yew hedging.  On the basis that if you tell someone NOT to do something they almost certainly WILL, the advice shall remain unrepeated here.  So here are the quick yew hedge planting pointers he (or she) should have concentrated on and that apply equally to almost all other hedging plants as well:

Tags: Hedging, planting, Watering, Yew Hedge