Tag Archives: Hedging

Hedge Trimmers

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When I had finished giving my box hedge its winter trim on Sunday, it is that time of the year by the way, I decided that next time I would use a machine….
Indoors and over a cup of tea I had a rummage on the web and turned up an excellent summary of what to think about and look for on GardenVisit.com (an entirely excellent site by the way, full of really good stuff and the best garden visit planner I have ever seen)
It sort of breaks down like this:

If you have a small hedge, do it by hand, but if you have a larger hedge (or hedges) to keep tidy, then you will make your life easier with a power hedge trimmer tool rather than a hand tool. The choice then is between the relatively expensive but more powerful petrol hedge trimmers or the cheaper but weaker electric ones. Try to let the jobs the machine has to do determine your buying decision.

The first big decision is whether to get a double or single-sided hedge cutter. If you have topiary or shaped hedging, get one with a double-sided blade – it means you can cut backhanded as well as normally. However, if your hedging is predominantly long and straight, a single sided machine may be preferable. For the same weight you can have a longer blade meaning you cut more hedge inches per minute and the balance tends to be better making them less tiring to use.

Hedge trimmers do not float around by themselves. They weigh something and need to be carried while trimming. A heavy machine means cutting the hedge is a struggle and you end up tired, you run the risk of dropping it and it can strain your back. Weight is also a perception – a machine that is well balanced will feel a lot lighter (and handle more easily) than one that is not.

Two other – obvious – tips. Keep the cutting edges on the blade of your machine sharp – as with any cutting operation, the sharper the blade the easier and sweeter the cut. And wear appropriate protection. Gloves, glasses and ear defenders.

 

 

 

Native Hedging: Top Ten Country Hits

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Almost any plant, provided it is woody and does not mind a bit of competition and being cut back occasionally can be used in a country hedge. But that does not make it a great native hedging plant. I have, honestly, seen a hedge made entirely from Ash. Interesting idea, but utterly useless.

Here are my top ten native hedging plants:

  1. Hawthorn – Crataegus monogyna
  2. Blackthorn – Prunus Spinosa
  3. Field Maple – Acer campestre
  4. Hazel – Corylus avellana
  5. Dog Rose – Rosa canina
  6. Spindleberry – Euonymus europeaus
  7. Guelder Rose – Viburnum opulus
  8. Common Alder – Alnus glutinosa
  9. Dogwood – Cornus sanguinea
  10. Cherry Plum – Prunus cerasifera

All of these hedge plants are available on our site (naturally)

Relax and watch your plants grow!

Hedges and Life (Low and high)

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Continuing the theme of why hedging is, as 1066 and All That would have said, a thoroughly Good Thing.

Sitting in the garden yesterday (before the rain) we played a drinking game where you paid a forfeit if you could not think of something to do with hedges and high life or low life.  Here are a few of the more sensible thoughts:

  • It is tough to paint graffitti on a hedge (and even if someone succeeds, it grows away all by itself (geddit)
  • Without hedges just about the only birds in your gardens would be pigeons, jackdaws and the like.  No nests, no songbirds and none of those little friends with bright eyes who eat garden pests while you are weeding or digging.
  • Ever tried to push your way through an established thorn hedge? Even in a leather jacket?  Not easy – much harder than climbing a wall or a fence.
  • When we had run out of things to say, or were maybe too drunk, and we all quietened down, you could see animal traffic in the hedge that runs across the end of our garden and into our neighbours.  Hedges are to small animals what pavements are to pedestrians. Safe places to walk.
  • Hedges provide shelter to animals (and humans) – they are excellent windbreaks and provide frost protection in severe weather.
  • They are a mini-ecosystem and so to a large extent they are self sustaining, feeding and supporting a range of life without costing the earth.
  • Oh yes, a visiting friend tried did an impersonation of a thief trying to escape with a bag of swag through a hedge we had planted up four years ago using a Conservation Hedge  mix.  Amazing how fast spindly looking little plants make a barrier a bull could not get through.  Great entertainment, but the swag never made it out of the garden.

Watch your plants grow, and enjoy!

Dead and Dying Yew Hedges and Trees

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Dying Yew HedgingEnglish Yew has a reputation for being indestructible, and given fair treatment, there are yew trees planted today that will still be alive when mankind (if we survive) will have escaped the solar system.

At the same time, and like any living organism, english yew can die prematurely, but because it is tough you may be able to save your tree or hedge with swift action. Here are a few reasons why yew dies when it should not.

Dogs and Cats kill Yew Trees and Hedging

Well sort of. Actually it is what comes out of the back end of dogs and cats that kills younger yew trees and hedging. Cats like to excavate holes in pretty much the same place and carefully bury their excrement. It is a bit like topdressing with raw lion dung. Not a good idea and, from the tree’s perspective, slow poisoning.

Dogs are worse, in that where one dog pees, others are sure to follow. And then the first one comes back to mark their marks marking his mark, and then they return…. and yews do not like uric acid on either their roots or leaves.

Yew dies by drowning

English Yew grows just about anywhere – there is a lovely yew hedge by the river Wylie that is flooded whenever it rains. But then the ground drains. The moral of the story is that you can plant a yew hedge in any kind of soil as long as the roots do not sit in water for extended periods of time. Dig a trench in solid clay and fill it with lovely compost and top soil and you have created a death trap for your hedge. The clay does not drain and the trench will fill with water and stay that way. So if you are planting on poorly draining soil either ensure there is drainage, or DO NOT PLANT IN A TRENCH. Clear the ground, and plant bare-rooted stock in slits which you close up firmly when you have finished. There is an excellent planting video on our site which shows the technique.

Salt

The salt that is spread on roads whenever there is a hysterical reaction to the possibility of freezing conditions is bad for all plants. Full stop. If your hedge is in a place where thawing ice, snow or just rain will run off, then think about a wall or fence. Most plants hate salt. If your hedge will not suffer from run off, but gets splashed, go out the day after the thaw and wash it with a hose until it has been in the ground for at least 12 months. Given our climate you probably will not have to do this at all.

Root Rot

Root rot is caused by a number of organisms most notably Phytopthora. Some form of pythopthora exists in all soils ( a bit like cold germs in tube trains…). Just because it is there does not mean your yew plants will die, like most diseases it needs the right conditions to cause damage. It is always best therefore to improve the soil with organic matter to help drainage and to encourage new root growth. Expensive plants like yew are also helped if you use a mycorrhizal additive – it is not cheap but the benefits are considerable.

Honey fungus

As with phytopthora there are a number of forms of Honey Fungus, not all of which are dangerous to plants. However the ones that are kill any tree or woody plant whose defences they penetrate. Yew included although the number of reported deaths of yew cause by honey fungus is very few as it is extremely resistant. Honey fungus travels underground and attacks trees and hedge plants through their root systems. If you cleanly trim off any broken bits of root with secateurs before planting, and if you improve the soil with organic matter, you reduce the chance of a honey fungus attack.

Watch your hedging grow, and enjoy