Best time to plant a hedge

The end of February or the beginning of March is the best time to plant a hedge because the plants are still fairly dormant, but the weather will warm up soon.

This means the hedging plants won’t sit around in wet, cold soil for too long.

Many hedges were replaced by fences over the past few decades, but now hedges are back in favour in urban gardens.

They’re brilliant for wildlife and for absorbing air pollution.

The RHS is trying to encourage everyone to have even a low hedge in their front gardens, especially now that so many have been converted to parking spaces.

An evergreen hedge, such as conifer, offers shelter for birds in the winter.

Privet isn’t wholly evergreen – it can get a bit tatty in bad winters – but it’s a good, fast grower and cuts into shape nicely.

If you can include a hedge with fruit or flowers, then wildlife will love it even more.

Wildlife hedges include hawthorn, sloe (blackthorn), dog rose, wild currant and elder.

I’ve also seen some beautiful hedges made from climbers, including star jasmine, ivy and honeysuckle.

These will need a trellis or fence to grow over.

If you have heavy clay soil, don’t dig a trench when planting a hedge.

Instead, dig a narrow slit, just big enough for the roots to sit in.

Buy small, young plants because they’ll establish more easily.

Once you’ve firmed the plants in, add a layer of mulch or compost. And then be very sparing with watering, unless there’s a drought.

If you have welldrained soil, then you can plant bigger plants and you can dig a trench if you like (but why dig more than you have to?)

Add a layer of mulch or compost, and keep an eye on the watering.

You will need to water weekly unless it rains a lot.