diar201410 :: Paul Blissett Hedgelaying

October 2014 140 yards hawthorn hedge, South of England style, Stansted Mountfitchet, Cambs Mostly newly planted maiden hawthorn hedge with part pre-existing blackthorn and hawthorn hedge. It was very hard to knock the stakes in until we had some rain as the ground was so hard!




15 yards maiden mixed hedge, South of England style, Tring, Herts This hedge was in a perfect state to lay, complicated only by being tight in to a post and wire netting fence just behind it. The pictures of the completed hedge were taken almost a month after the hedge was laid, hence the autumnal colouring. There are also images of this hedge newly trimmed in October 2016 - see here

50 yards old mixed farm hedge, South of England style, Kensworth, Beds. Hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, field maple, holly. This old and very overgrown mixed hedge made a very thick laid hedge, especially in the sections where blackthorn dominated. A section between a large retained holly and retained field maple was cleared of excess large field maple to create space between the trees, with field maple stumps being cut down to the height of the laid hedge and smaller field maple laid into the hedge.



The two pictures below show the same section of hedge before and after laying. The tall trees in the middle are field maple and dwarf the adjacent hawthorn to the right. The tallest field maple in the centre were felled to create space between the holly, the trunk of which is invisible in the left-hand picture and which is the ivy covered tree to the left of the field maple, and the smaller stool of field maple just to the right. If you look carefully you can see the angled base of the rightmost retained field maple in both pictures.

General view of completed hedge

15 yards garden hawthorn hedge, South of England style, Flackwell Heath, Bucks

An old but slight hawthorn hedge, previously overrun by ivy which the owner had laboriously removed. The stems were relatively brittle so it was ideal to lay it early in the season whilst there was still sap in the stems. The after pictures were taken several weeks later in mid-November which explains the autumnal colouring.

October 2014