The week before last I decided to finally lay the hedge I'd been thinking about for the last few years.
What's really good about laying this hedge is I planted it myself 9 years ago (read the blog post here).
It was a hard couple of days of graft. It feels like you're constantly fighting the hedge, you're constantly pushing and fighting the branches.
You only need a few tools to manipulate nature in this way, a good pair of gloves, an axe, billhook, chainsaw and sledge hammer. It's incredible really how you can make the trees bend to your will like this.
What was funny about doing it on the footpath was how many people would stop to comment. Everyone telling me how good or "well" it looked, also every other person asking if I'd watched the hedge laying on Clarkson's farm!
I'm pretty pleased with it really. There's a few things I'd change (I'd never use sycamore for hedging stakes again that's for sure), but overall it came out how I wanted.
It was a good age to lay, and as most trees were the same size, the chainsaw was not needed too much, the axe could do most of the work.
I filmed most of the process and have put it up on Youtube - give it a watch and let me know what you think. Hopefully it conveys some of the effort that went into it!
I admire your vision for the hedge, your hard work and how you did this big project successfully. At my age I only do light garden work.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Feels like its been a project a long time coming!
DeleteI love to see a beautifully laid hedge. A few years ago there was some sort of hedgelaying competition near here and it interesting to see the differences between various people's work.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, there's lots of different styles out there. I think mine is fairly basic, but gets the job done!
DeleteNine years ago, where does the time go, your hedge reminds me of my childhood, in a village in Somerset, hedges were regularly laid like this. It will be wonderful to see all the new growth, and it filling out.
ReplyDeleteTime sure does fly doesn't it! Doesn't seem very long since I put it in the ground. I can't wait to see it growing come spring.
DeleteWell, Kev, the last vid didn't disappoint! Fantastic job. Again, you made it look so easy. How many hours did you actually work on that? Really liked how you leave apple trees in the mix. Can't wait to see summer pics. Job well done. Kudos.
ReplyDeleteIt was over about 2 and a bit days I think. But I never get going too early as have chores and stuff to do. They were hard graft days though! The apple trees add a bit of interest to it I think. Nice that I grafted them, a shame I didn't notice the one had grown into the fence sooner, hopefully it'll come back!
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