It is all hedging at this time of year….
These yew hedge planting pointers apply equally to almost all other hedging plants as well, certainly anything that needs a well drained soil.
- You can dig a trench to plant your hedging if the ground is well drained.
- You can improve the soil as much as you like if the ground is well drained.
- You should water your plants well and often if the ground is well drained.
- You can use the largest plants you can afford if the ground is well drained.
You have spotted a pattern here: when planting a hedge, it is important to think about drainage.
If you have heavy clay soil (sticky grey, blue or yellow), the good news is that you have richly fertile soil.
The bad news is that water does not drain well through it, which some plants have a problem with.
So please, save yourself a lot of hard work and a load of grief. Watch our film on how to plant a country hedge (link on the home page) even if you are planting the smartest yew.
- On badly drained soils, always plant small plants.
- On badly drained soils, always plant in a slit, not a trench.
- On badly drained soils, improve the soil after planting and when your hedging is growing away by adding a mulch of well rotted compost/manure and letting the worms do the work.
- On badly drained soils, only water newly planted hedging if there is a danger that the soil will dry out completely. When you do water, soak the plants and then DO NOT WATER for a couple of weeks afterwards.
The reason is this:
If you dig a hole or trench in clay, it fills with water when it rains and the surface puddle water on the surrounding ground tries to run into your hole, keeping it full.
The fact that you backfilled the hole with lovely, porous compost when planting only gives it the consistency of a sponge in a bath. The roots of almost all hedging plants need to be able to breathe underground.
A trench in clay means they will probably drown.
So plant hedging on clay the easy way and dig as little as possible!
Brilliant advice on your website. I planted a yew hedge last year in a manured trench on clay and have watched it bronze and suffer – we have since put in more drainage, will add a foliar feed this spring and have our fingers crossed. I watched that very same programme last year and shook my head in disbelief at the presenter’s poor planting advice. I am about to plant a few more hedges on heavy clay soil and will do it your way, planting into slits adding rootgrow to the roots as I go, and mulching after. Look forward to better results this time. Only wish I had found your website sooner. Please continue your wonderful website – it is so very much appreciated. From fans in Central Scotland.
Hi Holly and a big hello to Central Scotland!
To be fair on that presenter, it is perfectly good advice if your soil is well drained. Considering how many British gardeners have heavy clay, though….
Back to your hedge: yew often bronzes after transplanting, so that shouldn’t be an issue, but a foliar feed will only work on green leaves.
You might consider replanting – from now until early march is fine, on a day when the soil isn’t frozen.
I can’t really judge without seeing it, but if you can see that it’s just too wet in the trench, then putting the clay back now is the best choice.
As for future hedges, as the country hedge planting video shows, a plastic mulch sheet is worth a look – it becomes hidden in a couple of years and does an amazing job of keeping out the weeds & preserving moisture in summer with no work.
You can tip the mycorrizae into a bucket of water & dunk the roots in it immediately before planting. Pour out any excess on to the soil around the new hedge.
Have fun!
Hello all,
I have just read this article . . halfway through digging a 49 foot trench in heavy clay – by hand!!
The trench unearthed about 20% building rubble.
Please can I have advice on what I should do?
Put the soil back? Put the rubble back? Stamp it all down and cut slits?
Advice gratefully received.
I am ordering the plants this week . . .
Chris
Hi Chris,
Well, you are in a great position to do an experiment!
I would pull out big bits of rubble and put it all the rest back in, churning in some well rotted manure if you have the energy (this will be good if there is quite a bit of rubble to remove).
Hi,
I am about to plant at 60 meter hedgerow in clay soil picked full of Cotswold Limestone and old tree roots. Given the length of the hedgerow (I am looking to plant Laurel) and stones etc ( took hubby and myself to dig a hole 250mm x 300mm for planting half a day in the same location)is there a better way than digging by hand?
Any advise gratefully received
Hi Katrina,
There are all sorts of small & large rotovators for hire, you can even hire a tractor sized version. Much faster than slogging by hand.
My question would be, do you really need to?
With heavy clay, it’s best to make one slit in the soil per plant with a spade, sweep a bareroot plant roots in and firm it all closed.
Don’t bother making a great big trench and changing the soil. Keep the clay. If you do rotovate, just mix in some well rotted compost/manure as you go over it at the end.
If the stones are really bad, then yes, you probably should rotovate – if you can’t stick a spade into it, you can’t plant in it!
Cherry laurel would not be my first choice for alkaline clay soil, portugal laurel would be better suited and holly will really thrive on it.
Good luck!
Ed
Thank you so much for your help! we have tried spades pick axes and even our own hands to dig in our ground there are so many stones – and large ones at that ! so rotivator it is. Thank you for your advise regarding species, we have already planted a lot of holly and so will take a look at the portugal laurel now.
Thanks again
Katrina
If the ground is that bad, I recommend hiring a pro to do it. They will have a bigger, badder rotovator than the ones you can get in a hire shop, and will use it expertly. It will be more expensive, but you could get someone to do in a few hours, whereas you might need to hire the machine for a few days to do a good job.
The best hand tool is probably the azada shaped mattock, which is much lighter than a pick axe and better for moving soil around. Wet the soil well the day before you dig to make it softer. Good luck!