• Double row native hedges are great for wildlife
• 6 Plants Per Metre required for Countryside Stewardship grants
• Easily order the right plants with our basic or wildlife enhanced Countryside Stewardship Mixes
• Plant them as shown: How to Plant a Country Hedge

Difference between a garden single row hedge, and a double row country hedge?

Most garden hedges are planted in a single row, three plants per metre, 33cm apart.

This page is about planting distances for a staggered double row with a total of 6 plants per metre. This qualifies for the BN11: Planting New Hedges Grant, and will be stockproof.

A staggered double row is two single rows in parallel and offset

Spacing a Staggered Double Row Hedge

The two rows are spaced about 40cm apart, with one row starting about 16.5cm after the other, so that the plants in one row are at the mid-point of the plants in the other row.

Bird’s eye view: Each black dot is a hedge plant, the red lines mark a metre, and the brown bits on either end are roads, other hedges, etc.

Note is that you typically do not put your first & last hedge plant on the zero & finish line of the actual hedge area / footprint, which is marked by the entire grid.
You put your first and last plant about 16.5cm away from the edges of the space that the mature hedge will grow to fill.

There are 6 metres of hedge in the diagram above.

• Along the top row, there are exactly 3 plants per metre all the way along: 18 plants in total.
• But along the bottom row, there are only 17 plants in total: that’s 3 per metre until the last metre, where there are only two.

That means that along the whole double row, you have six plants per metre in total, except for the last metre where you only have five plants. If you are not applying for the grant, that is fine.

But in order to claim your New Hedge Grant for that final metre, you need to stick one more plant in the awkward corner, about 16.5cm away from its neighbour in the same row.

You could use any native hedge plant, but ideal choices up against a wall are naturally shrubby and/or suckering from the base: any wild roses, blackthorn is good if the end is reasonably sunny, wild privet is perfect for gloomier spots.