8 reasons to plant a hedgerow
An old-fashioned farming feature has a lot to offer you, your stock & your block
Ahedgerow is a forager's paradise. A place to gather everything: a handful of berries, a basket of greens, a feast of fruit within a tangle of trees, shrubs, climbers, brambles, and herbs. They're also fabulous habitats for insects and wildlife to flourish and provide shelter and privacy.
New Zealand blocks and farms mostly have shelterbelts and hedges along roadsides and down fence lines, a single, uniform line of one species for shelter or privacy.
Hedgerows are wider and include a far more diverse blend of plants, such as:
■ fruit and nut trees;
■ berries;
■ flowers;
■ medicinal and edible herbs;
■ pasture species;
■ fodder trees for livestock;
■ trees for firewood, crafts, and timber. Trees within a hedgerow are often coppiced or pollarded to provide firewood and fodder, then left to regenerate.
A hedgerow is also a haven for stock and wildlife. Animals can use it as shelter from the wind, shade from the hot summer sun, and as a food source. Birds and insects live and feed amongst clusters of plants.
Hedgerows in history
It might seem chaotic and messy to some, but a good hedgerow is an abundant, naturalised food and habitat resource. Farmers have used them as fences and food for thousands of years.
In Europe, traditional hedgerows often consisted of prickly stands of blackthorn, hawthorn, and barberry, planted for their berries and as a natural livestock barrier. Since fencing and boundaries were modernised, today's hedgerows use less thorny plants.
In the UK, hedgerows lost to pasture and developments in the last few hundred years are now being restored to bring back diversity and wildlife corridors.
Hedgerow basics
A hedgerow is a sustainable way to maximize the use of your land. They're long and narrow, creating a productive vertical space.
All the plants within a hedgerow should have at least one reason, but ideally multiple reasons for being there.
Traditionally, a hedgerow provided food, medicine, wood, fodder – feed that is harvested and taken to animals – and forage, where stock can walk up to the hedgerow and browse on its outer edges.
Modern hedgerows include nitrogenfixing, mineral-accumulating, and soilenhancing plants to help support the nutrition and growth of productive plants and trees.
However, you can also think about its appearance and include beautiful specimens. A hedgerow can be functional and look good too.
Where's the best spot on your block
Hedgerows were traditionally used as fences, marking the outline of a paddock. While it's practical to plant them along an established fenceline, there are other options.
First, consider the soil, rainfall (or lack thereof), wind, temperature, and angle to the sun, which will impact your choice of plants.
You can create micro-climates to support frost-tender plants, shade-loving, and cool climate plants.
A well-placed hedgerow can have dramatic effects on a landscape, reducing the land's vulnerability to extreme weather such as drought or heavy rainfall, by:
■
providing shelter for exposed or flat, open areas;
■
preventing wind erosion and moisture evaporation of soil;
■ mitigating erosion and runoff.
If you plant a hedgerow along the contours of a clay hillside, following the land's natural curves across a slope, it will catch rainwater and nutrients that would typically tumble down into waterways. A thick hedgerow will 'catch' the water and hold it in its root system.
Hedgerows planted in riparian areas can significantly reduce runoff into waterways, lessening flooding
A good hedgerow can have a dramatic effect on your landscape.
downstream. It also reduces the amount of pollutants and sediment that reach the waterways, acting as a physical barrier.
When to plant
Planting is best done from late autumn through to early spring to allow plants to establish their root systems before dry periods in summer. There’s less need for watering – unless it’s a particularly dry winter – as the soil is moist, helpful for root development.
Bare rooted plants are available from July to August and are an affordable way to purchase deciduous trees and shrubs.
Poplar and willows are also available as poles. You can then easily propagate more each year, coppicing growth to create your own pole resource.
Another economical source is plug or root trainer-grown plants from bulk supply nurseries.
However, many plants suitable for hedgerows are often easily grown from cuttings or seeds at a very low cost if you plan and propagate them ahead of time.