Plant a hedge you can harvest, says Nick Bailey
Buy bargain bare-root plants and they’ll yield a bevy of fruit and nuts
Autumn is awash with wild fruits and nuts. A casual hedgerow forage this month will yield a burgeoning basket of goodies, from sloes for flavouring gin to hazelnuts for roasting. But if you struggle to muster your inner Bear Grylls, then why not create a harvestable hedge in your garden?
Now’s the perfect time to order bareroot, edible plants at a fraction of the cost of containerised ones in spring. For example, a bare-root hawthorn can be bought for less than 50p in autumn and winter – a real bargain compared to the same plant, which potted in spring, will set you back a fiver or more!
There are plenty of online nurseries selling bare-root plants. And the more you buy the cheaper each plant gets, so it might be worth getting a few garden friends on board, too.
Creating a harvestable hedge is easy but do bear in mind that it’ll never have the crisp look of a close-clipped yew hedge, as the nature of these edible plants is distinctly wilder and more lanky. Nonetheless, it can be hedged and will yield a bevy of fruit and nuts, along with all the other useful aspects of growing a hedge – shelter, wildlife provision, spatial division and privacy.
Start by selecting your species. Corylus avellana, better known as hazelnut, is happy to be hedged, produces tasty nuts and can be coppiced if it gets out of hand. Add to it Prunus spinosa, sloe, and you’ll have a delicious addition to gin.
For something a little more spiny add in Rosa canina. It’s a sprawling plant but is easily hedged and bears hips rich in Vitamin C that can be used to make a syrup or a facial treatment. Finally, add to this the Japanese wineberry, Rubus phoenicolasius. It’s a plant that’ll lollop through the other hedge plants while providing delicious red, translucent fruit that birds don’t go for! There are numerous other plants you can add depending on your taste and need, but these four will give you a bountiful hedge on their own.
Before planting, prepare the soil by double digging or at least with the addition of well-rotted manure. Stagger the plants in two rows 30cm (12in) apart and at 30cm (12in) intervals. Once the plants are in, dress the soil surface with bonemeal.
Keep the hedge well-watered in its first year or install a leaky pipe to ensure ongoing moisture. Lightly trimming the plants during the autumn following their planting will ensure they thicken up and produce a dense, fruitful hedge for years to come.