Hedge Laying

>>935241
Aussie here, haven't heard of it before. Explain hedging anon?

File: pa1301461.jpg (1003KB, 2048x1536px) Image search: [Google]

1003KB, 2048x1536px

>>935241
In the USA we have multiflora rose. It grows where ever you don't mow.

File: images.jpg (12KB, 186x271px) Image search: [Google]

12KB, 186x271px

>>935246
>Aussie here, haven't heard of it before. Explain hedging anon?

The basics are pretty simple really - laying a hedge (typically hawthorn or blackthorn etc) involves making an angled cut at the base of each little tree, splitting downward from that cut while laying it over, weaving it together and securing it with stakes... New growth comes up from the cuts and remaining stump and rejuvenate the hedge, and the angled parts also live on to create a thicker denser hedge without gaps for stock to sneak through. Birds and other hedge dwelling life love the lower thicker hedge too.

Pic is of the base of the pleacher (name for the hedge plant after it's been trimmed and laid over). Not the best pic but you can get the idea.

I guess in Australia it's probably too hot and dry for the types of plant usually used here? Also i suppose being a younger country with much larger areas to deal with, wire fences have been much more practical.

Hedge laying goes way back to the times before wire fences, and was the traditional way of keeping a purely living hedge stock proof before the availability of metal wire and the like.

>>935253
Daam... Instant hedge though, just leave it alone and wait.

>>935261
Leave it alone and you no longer have a yard.

>>935261
Yup. It is highly invasive and was brought to the US for making living fences. It didn't turn out so well. In some states, it is illegal to allow it to grow on your property. Not that many people get arrested for that sort of thing. I'd rather have blackberries/raspberries. Those are not introduced in my area and are legal to grow.

>>935241
If I had property I would totally make hedges they look cool as fuck, plus free fencing.

>>935273
Im from Michigan and any overgrown areas on my property usually form a natural hedge of blackberries. They grow like weeds and provide a good food source for most animals and give me a nice snack while Im' out working, I love em

>>935273
>blackberries
Fucking blackberries are a pest out here in Washington. There are everywhere, and a bitch to get rid of. Meanwhile other states pay top dollar for them...

Loads of blackberries here in the uk too... In fact the hedge I'm working on now has a fuck ton of the tangly little fuckers always tying to trip me up. Bastards, but tasty bastards.

>>935241
Strewth mate i'd rather lay m gf then some hedge, I know your gangas are all uggo but get a grip mate

>>935344
That's because they have a natural range and some states don't have them as native. Thus, they are invasive, not only in the manner they grow, but labeled as such legally by the local government. Rubus niveus even made it as far as the Galapagos islands.

File: 1gQMyk.So.79.jpg (81KB, 640x403px) Image search: [Google]

81KB, 640x403px

>>935253
Southeast USA here. Kudzu grows where ever you don't now.

>>935344
>>935337
From my experience pigs will clear up black and raspberry. They love eating the roots. I cleared 5 acres with six pigs. They rototilled it up. I then took a few old round bales of hay that was no good anymore for feed and spread it out. The pigs spread it out even more and worked it into the ground. The seeds from the hay took and now it's moderately decent pasture. Havent had pigs on it in a couple years and no black or raspberries in sight. The absolute easiest way to get back pasture and you get some pork at the end.

>>935305
When I eventually own a nice little house in the countryside with a bit of land (I hope) I have all sorts of plans for hawthorn based garden features. Main one being a 2/3 circle of hawthorns with a bench in the middle facing the view - I'll let them grow nice and tall then pull the long stems in to meet above the bench, and weave the shorter ones between in a sort of spiral as far up as they go to make a nice bushy dome providing shade for the bench. Sort of like an upside down basket made of hedge.

Ah, to be retired with a little land. That's at least one good reason not to kill myself yet.

File: SWISS%20BUSH%20HOOK-500x500[1].jpg (20KB, 500x500px) Image search: [Google]

20KB, 500x500px

I can recommend getting pic related, and a scythe stone.

For £25, you get a very useful tool and a sharpener, and they are very good to use.

I've used mine for thousands of hours, and it is a very nice tool.

>>936078
Nice. I've yet to find a decent modern billhook... Been through two which have both snapped where the tang meets the handle.

Now I just use an old double edged slasher without the long wooden handle, which I found laying around on the farm. Bit of tape around the metal thing the handle used to slot into, and presto.

What kind of hedges are suitable for this?

>>936193
most stuff is worth a try, anything you could coppice and it'd re grow i guess. traditionally it's hawthorn and blackthorn (and probably anything with thorn on the end of the name) but i've laid some holly and a couple other things i do'nt know the name of into a hedge with success before.

>>935241
>>936193

What are some good hedges that will still act like good fence even in deep winter? (Say -30)

Also any good diagrams on how to grow/weave hedges so they'll be thick and like a brick wall?

File: 1485235802743-821803760.jpg (4MB, 5312x2988px) Image search: [Google]

4MB, 5312x2988px

>>936078

This is pretty rad...I live in Southern California though, nothing really grows crazy like that out here

>>936489
>What are some good hedges that will still act like good fence even in deep winter? (Say -30)

Your traditional spiky unpleasant nasty bastards, hawthorn, blackthorn, maybe holly (though you have to keep an eye on it taking over) and that horrible cunt vine-like rose thing whatever it's called. Honestly though if it's not well laid and maintained (read lots of work) it'll not be a particularly good barrier in this modern age of wire and wood fences. With the exception of holly, in winter they'll all look thin, and that's when less thick bits start to look like a way through.


>Also any good diagrams on how to grow/weave hedges so they'll be thick and like a brick wall?

Diagrams I can't provide, you'll just have to google for that, but the basics would be:
Plant 'em in a zig-zag and let 'em grow fairly tall (encourage this with your pruning i guess?) before laying so there's as much weaving in and out of the stakes as possible... More stakes = more tightly woven and supported hedge. Binders on top help too. Lay it at the right time and you'll get a fair bit of meat left on the bend which will keep it solid.

As you can see, it's a pretty long term type job... Which is cool if you're planning on that sort of thing but realistically when you need a barrier you often need it now, not in 10 years. Main reason for traditional hedging dying out is that.


>>936512
You americans don't seem to have any hedge laying tradition, but you do have some weird barriers like stump fences. Pretty cool them.

who would win in a fight; a hedge layer or a drystone-waller?

>>936818
>who would win in a fight; a hedge layer or a drystone-waller?

Tough one.

Assuming the tools of the trade are involved, the hedge layer would have billhook / slasher / chainsaw, but the drystone waller would surely have the strength.

As a hedge layer I'm rooting for my own people, but hmm, there's no safe bets there.

>>936512
pomegranate and mulberry might be an option. I would think CA native sycamore as well. Ive seen it pollarded . . . I would bet that anything you can pollard you could lay as a hedge. Anything you could espalier you could probably also hedge like this. Something like common bradford pear and other smaller fruit trees. There are citrus species that are both thorny and small that take heavy pruning. Mesquite and smaller acacia species too. Ive never seen it done in CA, but stuff like this is so culturally specific I think thats why you dont see it.

>>936492
>Just Do It

>>936512
Since i'm not sure where you are in socal, I'm not completely sure if osage orange will grow in your area, but if it does, its about the most impenetrable hedgerow you can get in the us. It'd take some work, but god help anyone or anything that tries getting through an established osage hedgerow.

I've had to clear out osage hedgerows, I'd rather use an axe than a chainsaw. You'll have to sharpen either one every 30min or so, but the chainsaw has a serous risk of the chain breaking on the tree and doing its best to murder your leg.