Tag Archives: Trees

Growing Yew – A Message from the Suppliers

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Busting Myths about Growing Yew

Yew is quite a pricey plant, especially sizes over 80 cms tall that are delivered in a pot.
If you were going to get a free hedge and based your choice on saving the most money, Yew would be a top contender.
As you know, we are are yew hedging suppliers (amongst a few other plants!).

You might well guess that our friends and family often try to blag a few plants from us.
If they cook us a nice enough dinner, we might even give them a deal on some.

So we’ve seen a few yew hedges come up in their gardens since 1947 and we want to say a triple of things about them:

1. Yew is not slow growing

Yew is a fast growing plant when it is young.
It will easily grow 30cms per year, more if it is in full sun all day and well cared for.
Yew will begin to grow slowly when the growing tips of the central, leading stems are cut.

With a young yew hedge, simply leave the tops alone and give the sides just the lightest trim once each winter.
When the hedge reaches full size, trim the tips for the first time.

2. Yew Loves Heavy Clay

Yew trees need a reasonably well drained soil to grow. They do not like bogs or riversides.
However, they will grow in any soil that isn’t really wet for most of the year – some winter flooding is fine.

Yew loves heavy clay – it grows beautifully on it in most places.  You will only be unable to grow Yew if the site traps water for long periods.

When planting in clay, do not dig out a trench and fill it with topsoil.
Simply make a slit in the soil and use the spade to sweep the roots gently down into it. Firm it closed again.

3. Yew is Futureproof

Your hedge’s lifespan is ~4000 years.
Unlike the other lush evergreen conifers, an old Yew hedge can be hard pruned if necessary and it will regrow beautifully.

When do I clip, trim & prune my hedge? Winter and Summer.

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Winter is generally the best time to prune something and it sure is the best time to trim a young hedge.

Hedges must be clipped and sometimes pruned. Fruit trees need some pruning to maintain the best crops. Older ornamental trees can need pruning if they are damaged or get in the way.

Why is winter usually the “best” time to prune and clip your hedge or tree?

During winter, pruning above ground will cut off the least energy from the plants.
The plant’s sugary sap is stored underground, in the roots.

Mature hedges are good to trim in summer.
Mature hedges that flower are best trimmed after the flower or seeds have fallen.

Beech and Hornbeam are clipped in summer to encourage them to keep their autumn leaves all winter.

Cherry fruit and flowering cherry trees are an exception, they should be pruned in summer to avoid the risk of disease.

But all hedges or other trees and fruit are best trimmed in winter. Dead, diseased or damaged branches should be removed as and when they appear.

Clay Soil – Problem or Blessing?

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We want to say it loud and clear if you think clay soil is a problem:

Clay soil is fertile soil that conserves moisture!

Clay soil is good soil, native European plants love it and so do many other trees.

Relatively few plants like really waterlogged soil.
Clay soil becomes waterlogged more easily than other soils and can collect water in certain places, like basins or low lying ground, but really in most places it’s fine to just plant into it.

When water sits in puddles for a long time after rain, one way to break surface water logging is to dig one or more soakaways or sumps.

These are a  lot of work, so it’s good that they do work.
Put them in first and use the soil that comes out to build ridges to plant into.
Clay is good for shaping into raised mounds.

In upland areas, clay soil’s ability to preserve moisture is a good thing – it works well with mulch fabric.

Transplanted hedging and trees survive best in clay soils – it’s plants on drier and sandier soils that need more watering in hot summer.

Long Term Years of Improving Clay Soil:
People who want to really improve the drainage in a plot of clay land each early winter will double dig it over with manure and lime, leaving big bare sods of clay on top, exposed to the frosts over the winter.
This can be covered in mid spring to dry off for digging with more manure and sowing with green manure fertiliser plants.

Top Tips for Tree Planting

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The tree planting season is nearly upon us, so it is time to brush up your tree planting technique. By the way, most of this applies to shrubs, hedging, roses and fruit as well.

1. When your plants arrive, trim roots and stems that are damaged. Clean cuts lessen the chance of disease.

2. When you dig your planting hole, reserve the topsoil for when you are filling in around the roots. The less good stuff will go back in the bottom of the hole…

3. It is good to improve topsoil with well rotted compost or manure. It works wonders for the structure of your soil. Adding sand, grit or even straw improves the drainage of clay soil.

4. Always make a small “molehill” in the bottom of the planting hole to put the roots on. This, quite simply, stops them becoming waterlogged and rotting before they have started to grow away.

5. Square planting holes prevent roots from “circling” and so are better for root development.

6. Use mycorrhizae . These friendly fungi are an incredible help to the establishment of a tree.

7. Always step back from the tree before returning soil to make sure you have planted it so it looks its best. It is going to be there for a long time and you don’t want to spend the rest of your life saying ” if only…”

8. Try to make some provision for watering. We generally bury a bit of drainpipe or drainage hose while we are planting so that it is really easy to get water down to the roots while the tree is establishing.

9. Backfill around the roots using the improved topsoil.

10. Guard your tree. Not only do rabbits and deer take chunks out of it, so do strimmers and lawnmowers.

11. Use a stake and a good tree tie to stabilise your tree. You can get rid of it after the second year. Always tie the tree low down otherwise the head can snap off in a gale.

12. Give your tree a good mulch after planting or use a hemp mulch mat which is biodegradable. Either will reduce weed competition (the mat removes it entirely) and both help water retention.

Sit back and watch your trees grow