Over the Christmas break I managed to get our new hedge planted. This was to be 42m of hawthorn with a few home grafted cider apple trees spaced amongst it.
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| Where the hedge is to grow. The "mole hills" are where I planted the cider trees |
The first thing I did was to make sure that we had all the posts in for the fence that would go either side of it (I'll do a how-to fencing post later in the month). Having these in first would mean than no plants would get damaged as we go about bashing the posts in.
I then planted the cider trees in the middle spaced at about 5m.
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| The two lines marking where the hawthorn will be planted and the bunches of trees laid out to give an idea of spacing |
I then spaced out the 225 hawthorn plants evenly, it worked out at about 5-6 per meter. I laid a bundle of 6 plants every meter and that way as I worked down the hedge I knew I was planting at the right spacing.
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| Slowly getting there |
I planted in sections, planting around 5 meters then going back and adding bamboo canes to each plant and then adding the rabbit collar over the top of them both. By doing it in sections I could see that the spacing was right and it broke up the monotony of the job.
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| Seems like a long way! |
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| Planting was simply done. A spade pushed into the ground and pushed forward |
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| A hawthorn plant slipped in |
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| Using my foot to push the earth back around it. Now repeat 225 times! |
It took me most of the day to plant it and although it's not nice work (standing up was a treat!) I got a real sense of satisfaction when it was finished.
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| The finished hedge - I'll look forward to seeing how it grows |
I've still got to add two more apple trees and an oak tree on the far left before it's finished and I've also kept some hawthorn back to plant in a nursery bed to replace any plants that die over the next 12 months.
My main concern is that it's in a really wet part of the field so some of the roots might drown but hopefully it will be alright.
Anyone else planted a hedge from scratch? If so how did it go and how long before it really looked like a hedge?
Make it a white oak and you'll have edible acorns, should you ever need them.
ReplyDeleteEdible acorns? How you eat them?
Deletecheck out 'backwoods home magazine' for jackie clay atkison's articles. can also search sites for american indians.
Deleteuse as you would corn meal mush or make flour.
pigs love them. [check out piglet, pooh's great friend!]
Is the Massey Ferguson a 35? I was told to ask you.
ReplyDeleteI think so but I'll check - Its not mine though!
DeleteOMG - 250!!! That was a marathon effort on your own - and isn't it cold over there about now!! It will be wonderful when it is grown green!!
ReplyDeleteNot too cold at the moment just wet! Very wet!
DeleteI certainly don't want to plant too many again soon.
Planting in December? Over here you'd need dynamite to make a hole in the frozen ground....come to think of it that might be a fun project... planting with dynamite... hmmm You can tell cabin fever is getting to me and we are just in to the start of January.
ReplyDeleteI was always told get trees in before christmas and command them to grow, plant them after and hope they grow! We normally have cold weather a bit later on
Delete250 mercy me that was some work! I hope they all live for you! :O)
ReplyDeleteI doubt they'll all live but I hope enough will to form a good barrier!
DeleteWhat a grand job you did. I love hawthorn, the birds do too. Would plant more here but we can't get the cuttings. Do have rampant blackthorn though, which is very obliging when it comes to making a hedge where we don't want one!
ReplyDeleteTry growing the seeds? they take a couple of years to germinate but then your away!
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