Creating a mixed native hedge for wildlife and shelter

Why a mixed native hedge belongs beside an orchard

A hedge is the most useful thing you can plant on a smallholding. It marks a boundary, filters wind without the turbulence a solid fence creates, and gives birds somewhere to nest, roost and feed. In an orchard it earns its keep twice over: a well-grown thorn hedge on the windward side takes the sting out of gales that would otherwise strip blossom and bruise fruit, and the insects it harbours pollinate your trees in spring.

Plant a single species and you get one flowering period, one fruiting period and one sort of nesting cover. Mix three or four natives and the hedge works for far more of the year. Hawthorn, blackthorn and hazel planted together will do that job beautifully, with perhaps a little field maple, dog rose or guelder rose tucked in if you have room.

Choosing your species

All three of the classics are tough, cheap as bare-root whips, and suited to most soils from heavy clay to light loam. They cope with a little shade, though they flower and fruit best in sun.

• Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) — the backbone of the English hedge. Dense, thorny and quick to thicken, it flowers in May with a froth of white that feeds early bees, then carries haws into winter. Blackbirds, redwings and fieldfares strip them in hard weather. It responds well to cutting and lives for centuries.
• Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) — the first to flower, often on bare black twigs in March, which makes it invaluable for early pollinators. Its sloes ripen after the first frosts and feed thrushes and small mammals. It suckers freely, so give it room, and plant it on the sunnier side if you can.
• Hazel (Corylus avellana) — less thorny, more upright, with catkins in late winter and nuts in autumn. It adds structure and shelter at the base of the hedge and is a favourite nesting site for tits and dormice. Coppiced every few years it will last indefinitely.

A ratio of roughly 60 per cent hawthorn, 20 per cent blackthorn and 20 per cent hazel gives a good balance of density, flower and fruit.

Where to plant, and how much room to allow

Site the hedge on the side the prevailing wind comes from — usually the south-west across most of England and Wales — about four to six metres from your nearest fruit trees. That distance matters: too close and the hedge's roots rob the orchard of moisture and nutrients; too far and you lose the shelter benefit.

Allow a strip at least a metre and a half wide. Left to grow, a native hedge will reach two to three metres high and a similar width at the base, and a tapering profile — wide at the bottom, narrow at the top — is what makes it stand up to wind. Leave a gap or two along its length so wildlife can move through and so you are not walking the long way round every time.

Planting bare-root whips

Order bare-root whips 60–90cm tall and plant them between November and March while they are dormant. Avoid planting into frozen or waterlogged ground.

Set them in a double, staggered row: 45cm between plants in the row and 40cm between the two rows. This staggered pattern knits together into a wind-proof, stock-proof mass far faster than a single line. Clear a metre-wide strip of grass and weeds first — competition in the first two years is the main reason new hedges fail.

Plant each whip to the same depth it was growing before, firm it in well with your heel, and cut the top back by a third to encourage bushy growth from the base. Fit a spiral guard against rabbits and voles, and mulch with well-rotted manure or bark around — but not touching — the stems.

The first two summers

Water thoroughly in dry spells for the first two growing seasons, roughly ten litres per plant a week in a genuine drought. Keep the strip around the base clear of grass, either by hand or with a mulch topped up each spring. Do not trim the hedge at all in its first two years; let it put on height and root.

By the third year you should see the whips thickening and beginning to meet. A light trim of the sides that summer will encourage density, but leave the top alone until it reaches the height you want.

Cutting, laying and leaving the berries

From then on, cut in late winter, ideally between December and February, and never between March and August — that is peak nesting season, and you will destroy nests and disturb young. Trim the sides to a taper, wider at the base, and take the top down gradually.

If you want the hedge to fruit heavily for birds, cut it on a rotation: trim one section each year rather than the whole length, so there is always a patch left to flower and berry. Hazel in particular can be coppiced on a ten to fifteen-year cycle, which keeps it young and lets light reach the hedge floor.

Every ten to fifteen years, consider laying a stretch — cutting partway through the stems and bending them over. It is hard work and best learned from someone who has done it, but it rejuvenates a hedge like nothing else, thickening the base and giving another generation of life. Even without laying, a mixed native hedge will reward you for decades: shelter for your orchard, a larder and a nursery for everything that flies, crawls and burrows, and a boundary that looks as though it belongs in the English countryside.