Edible Hedge Plants

• Pack: 50 bareroot plants of five kinds, for fruit and nuts from your own hedge
• Contents: 25 Sloes, 5 Wild Plum / Damson, 10 Hazel, 5 Crab Apple and 5 Wild Pear.
• Makes: 16m of single row hedge, or 8m of double row
• Plants per metre: 3 in a single row, or fewer if you want fruit more than a barrier
• Plant size: 40/60cm or taller
• Type: Deciduous
• Hedge style: Informal. It has to be left to grow if it is to fruit
• Substitutions: We may substitute a species if one runs out, and cannot take requests
• Arrives: Bunched by species. Mix them as you plant
• Delivered: Bareroot, November to April. Collection from Castle Cary also available

The Edible Hedge pack is 50 bareroot plants for a hedge you can pick from: Sloes, Wild Plum, Hazel, Crab Apple and Wild Pear. It plants 16 metres of single row hedge and is delivered from November to April.

Edible Hedge Plants

This mixed hedge pack is a bundle of 50 plants that produce edible fruit and hazelnuts. You can order the same plants individually from their respective pages, but you will save money on the same size plants by buying this ready-made hedge pack.
We will choose the plants that go into the hedge mix from the following list, occasionally the pack may change between the time of ordering and the time of despatch. We regret that we cannot accept requests for specific plants to be used in your pack. If you want to be certain of having a particular plant in your hedge mix, please order it separately; take a look at the rest of our selection of hedging plants. Although we reserve the right to substitute any of the components of this mix, it'll generally consist of:

What Is in the Pack

• 25 Sloes (50%)
• 5 Wild Plum / Damson (10%)
• 10 Hazel (20%)
• 5 Crab Apple (10%)
• 5 Wild Pear (10%)
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These native plants will produce a good yield of fruit & nuts for eating fresh and making hedgerow jam. They'll knit together to form a stock-friendly, dense barrier hedge, ideal for planting around an allotment. A productive edible hedge will never be a tidy, formal-looking thing: it needs to be allowed to grow in order to produce a nice harvest.
For an additional crop, consider adding a medlar maiden to the sunny end of your hedgerow.

Edible hedge packs are only delivered bareroot, during winter (November to April).

The plants in this pack will be 40-60cm tall when we deliver them. All our hedge plants are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots aren't measured).

Please note: when you receive our mixed hedging packs, they'll not be already mixed and will be bunched by plant species. Please remember to mix them for best results.

Spacing an Edible hedge:

Because you will want these plants to bear lots of fruit, you can space them a bit further apart if security isn't an issue.

If you want the hedge to be secure, plant at 3 plants per metre, 33cm apart.

You could plant at 6 plants per metre in a staggered double row, with 33cm between each plant along the row and 40cm between the rows, but that's a bit pointless with this hedge mix, as the interior half of each row won't fruit at all.
If you wanted a double row, you could use (for example) a conservation hedge mix for the row that gets the least sun (or faces the road) and the edible mix for the row that gets the most sun (or faces your garden) would be better value.

Note that if your mix contains elderflower, it might be best to plant it all together at the "worst end" of the hedge (which most hedges tend to have).
Elder is exceptionally tough and tolerant of practically all conditions, and planting it in a block together at one end is often preferable to distributing it throughout the mixed hedge. Elder is a decent hedge plant, but it's a bit of a bully in the way it grows, so the more it grows into other Elders, the better.

Each pack of 50 plants will make 16 metres of single row hedge and 8 metres of double row hedge.

Planting Companions

To widen the harvest, add Raspberries and Elder for flowers, fruit and berries, planting the Elder together at one end as described above. Cherry Plum can be ordered separately if you want it in your hedge. Dust the roots with Rootgrow as you plant.

Why Buy Hedging from Ashridge

Hedging is not a sideline here: the plants in your pack are grown for us as hedging from the outset by specialist growers, then lifted to order while dormant. Ashridge Nurseries holds the Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award, and bareroot plants are guaranteed for 12 months.

Frequently Asked Questions

What plants are in the Edible Hedge pack?

Fifty plants: 25 Sloes (Blackthorn), 10 Hazel, 5 Wild Plum or Damson, 5 Crab Apple and 5 Wild Pear. If one runs short we may substitute it.

How long a hedge will one pack plant?

Sixteen metres in a single row at three plants per metre, or eight metres as a staggered double row. For fruit, a single row is the better use of the plants.

Can I choose which plants go in my pack?

No. The pack is made up to a fixed recipe and we cannot take requests. To be sure of a particular plant, order it separately from its own page.

How should I prune an edible hedge?

As little as you can bear. A hedge clipped tight will not flower or fruit well, so let it grow out and trim it lightly, in winter, not every year.

Do I need to mix the plants myself?

Yes. They arrive bunched by species, not ready mixed. Lay them out along the row in a random order before you plant.