Hedges take on all sorts of tasks in the home garden. Large specimens offer small mammals and birds a perfect habitat, protect against wind and prying eyes, and serve as natural boundaries. Smaller hedges optically enhance the green living room as a design element. They can be used to divide flower beds, delimit parts of the garden or surround a seating area. Cut hedges are suitable for planting. These are not only inexpensive, but also durable.
The choice of plants
There is a large selection of hedge plants in specialist shops. It is not always easy to find suitable plants straight away. When choosing plants, it depends on the site conditions. Are the plants in full sun, in the shade, or both? The question of the soil conditions is also crucial. Among the woody plants there are varieties that already have high demands here and others that thrive on almost any soil. Another point is the amount of work. Fast growing hedges need to be cut once or twice a year. If you want to do without it, choose slowly growing hedges. And ultimately, optics play a decisive role in the selection of the hedge plants.
Most popular hedge plants
Should it be an evergreen hedge that also sets accents in the garden in winter? Or would you prefer a variant that sheds foliage or that enchants with its colorful flowers? The most popular hedge plants include varieties such as privet, yew, false cypress, thuja, cherry laurel or the hornbeam hedge. Each hedge plant has its own advantages and disadvantages.
The right time to plant
Hedge plants should usually be planted in late fall to be planted. In this way, they take root before the first frost and the risk of leaf damage is significantly reduced. Another advantage is that the plants are not delayed in sprouting in spring. In addition, the hedge can also be planted in spring - before budding. However, additional watering then often has to be carried out. However, before planting can be started, the prescribed boundary distance to the neighbour's property must be checked. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble with the neighbors, it is advisable to inquire about the regulations in advance with the respective municipality.
Step-by-step instructionsCareful preparation is necessary so that the hedge is also an eye-catcher. This includes the first care of the hedge plants. Bare-rooted hedge plants should be placed in water for up to 24 hours before planting. In the case of container or ball plants, the pot is immersed in water before planting until no more bubbles appear. If the hedge cannot be planted immediately, it is advisable to place the plants in large holes in the ground, cover them with soil and flood them with water.
- Align and dig the planting trench
Align the planting trench with the help of a straight line. If you don't have a guideline at hand, you can use a clothes line that is wound up on two pegs and stretch it as a line across the ground. Dig the planting trench about 30 cm deep and 50 cm wide and enrich it with ripe compost. Alternatively, the soil can be loosened with a power tiller and ripe compost can be incorporated. The compost soil improves the water and air balance in the root area. In addition, the root formation is promoted.
- Plant spacing
Using a bamboo pole
(one meter) the planting distances are now determined. Simply draw lines on the bamboo pole, depending on the type and variety. For hedges that remain small (around one meter), three to four plants per meter are required. The planting distance for high hedges is two to three plants per linear meter.- Planting
The plants are placed in the planting pit along the guide line and at a suitable distance. When planting, make sure that the root ball of the hedge is level with the ground.
- Closing and rinsing
In the next step, the enriched and excavated soil is filled back into the planting trench. Shake the plant a little so that there are no cavities between the roots. Step down the earth with feeling and form the pouring edge. Then the roots really have to be slurried.
- Apply bark mulch
Once the water has drained away completely, the soil is loosened up again a little. Finally, the root balls are covered with a thick layer of bark mulch. As a result, the soil does not dry out and the young hedge plants are protected from frost damage. Bark mulch is also very helpful against weeds.
Care tips for hedges
Whether leaf-shedding hedges such as privet or red beech or the evergreen species such as firethorn, conifer or cherry laurel - they all have one thing in common. Decorative hedge plants want to be cared for and cut regularly. A cut is not only used to ensure that the hedge remains opaque, grows faster or branches out more and more. The hedge is also given a shape by the hedge cut, which can set beautiful accents in the garden - provided you can. If you want to cut back the hedge, you should do this in spring. Mid-March is ideal here, because it is before the plant sprouts. A later pruning should not be done, because hedges provide a breeding place for many bird species. The second pruning then takes place in the months from August to October.
The only thing to note is that the cut is trapezoidal. That is, broad at the base and narrower towards the top. In this way, the hedge remains tight in the lower area and gets the sunlight it needs to grow. The topiary can be carried out from March to the end of September. Please do not cut later, otherwise the first night frosts can damage tender shoots. All in all, planting hedges is just as easy as caring for them with the steps mentioned above. It is only important that the prescribed limit distance and the cutting date are adhered to. With the right tool, nothing can get in the way of taking care of the hedge
Worth knowing about planting hedges in brief
In the case of newly created hedges on fertile arable soils, it can make sense to drain the soil in order to prevent fast-growing ones to suppress nutrient-loving species and to obtain a much more species-rich population of rare specialists support financially. The cuttings from the annual mowing and pruning of trees must be removed over several years. Otherwise, the clippings should remain in place to encourage the development of litter, musty and raw humus horizons and dead wood.
For the creation of new hedges, so-called Benjes hedges have been propagated since the beginning of the 1990s. The principle of the Benjes hedges is to build hedges not by replanting, but by introducing seeds from birds. For this purpose, wood cuttings are laid in strips and after a herbaceous stage that is usually rich in nettles, bushes begin to grow. The advantage is that this type of system is inexpensive and native seeds are brought in by birds. The disadvantage is that especially shrubs made of deciduous wood clippings such as blackberries are becoming more prevalent. While a positive influence on the bird world, small mammals and insects can be achieved in this way, the Benjes hedge is rather irrelevant for botanical species protection. It has proven to be more sensible to supplement Benjes hedges with woody plantings.
Planting tips
- When planting hedges, it is usually advisable to dig a planting ditch twice as wide and as deep as the plant root ball
- In the case of heavy soils, mix the excavated material with sand or lava granules and work in some organic fertilizer (e. B. Compost or horn shavings)
- Shorten plants of deciduous hedges by 1/3 to 1/2 - only cut conifers to a uniform height
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Distribute the trees evenly in the planting pit so that the side shoots just touch each other - When filling the planting ditch, shake the plants and step on the soil mixture well to avoid cavities
- Create a pouring wall and water the plants well
- Planting area with Bark mulch cover to prevent the soil from drying out quickly.
Hedge plants that are suitable for the garden include:
- Privet and cherry laurel
- Yew, arborvitae and false cypress
- European beech and hornbeam