No hogs yet, but I'm planning a hedge

[bobleponge]

Firstly, mods please move this if you feel its more appropriate elsewhere, I just couldnt see anywhere that it should go.

My back garden has a really nice set of tasteful Leylandii, from memory about 7-8 of them, covering maybe 25-30 feet down one bit of my garden boundary.
As beautiful as I find them, I shall be hacking them down this leave, as they are already too big to get to the top to prune them.

They were clearly planted by the previous owners, to stop the really cold winter wind that whips across the garden, from that side, so I need to have something else there in its place.

I would prefer something natural, I'm not building a wall etc, there's no need, nobody goes past, but I do want something to stop the wind to at least head height, but it cant grow so fast as to be unmanageable.
If I can eat it so much the better.

Any ideas?

[smallblueplanet]

Sorry to be obvious Bob, but what local hedges grow? Native is best I reckon!

[bobleponge]

Nothing is locallly wild growing Manda, its all farmland and cultivated. The field boundaries are either trees or blackberry bushes, with a nice sloe bush nearby too. Dont want anymore sloe's I've already got tons of them, nor blackberries, trying to think of something that will be wildlife beneficial as well as perhaps edible in one form or another for me.

[dogsbody]

Hazel (for the nuts), wild roses (for the hips), holly and pyracantha for the birds.

I'm sure there are many more too.

[Incy]

Robinhia (sp?) red robin is really pretty. It's evergreen and new growth is red. I believe it's fairly fast growing but has a maximum height so would never be unmanageable like laylandii.
Hawthorn is very wildlife friendly. Pyracantha is too and is really pretty with berries and flowers at different times of year so adds colour all year round. It's also available in several colours (red, orange, yellow I think). Beware the thorns though, they are like daggers. My son has now popped at least 3 leather footballs on ours.

[FROSTYFRECKLE]

Have you taken a peek at Victoriana Nurseries website, they have a range of edible hedging. I don't know about delivery to France but might give you a few ideas. The Cherry Plum hedging was used to protect Orchards, does well in exposed/windy sites.

[Hilary B]

Any reason it can't be a mixture of beech and whitethorn? Beech gives good winter protection (don't lose their leaves until the new ones are about to grow). Whitethorn (hawthorn) provides plenty of birdie-food, and the berries CAN be used for wine (and I think jam etc).
You need beech TREES to get 'mast' (which I like), and chestnut is similarly unco-operative, but there is always hazel....

PS, in spring we get a few 'early salads' of beech leaves from our hedge. They only stay useable for a couple of weeks when they start growing.

[vicky]

A mix of shrubs for you and the wildlife to eat sounds great (a fedge?). I'd be tempted to put in a windbreak of fast growing willow whips too and harvest them for wood when the hedge is more established

[Two_Sheds]

Is anything in this list useful? Edible Hedge - Bare root plant packs

[smallblueplanet]

Here's what some locals think?

Liste d'arbre et d'arbustes pour une haie bocagere

Google translation for me.

Google Translate

[bobleponge]

Thanks all, will hack them all down and see what "goes" from the above list.
Not sure about the monster spiky things though, not sure my daughter would be too happy if I had to keep unhooking the grandkids.

[Nicos]

Same sort of thing as we are thinking Bob!
Yesterday I was looking at a new 'natural' hedge...hawthorn, beech, elderberry,sloe, and something else I didn't recognise.
are you thinking of leaving it all and thin- as with most French hedges..or shrt and hed height - as with English hedges???
Beech would only nut with a French type. Not sure about the others.
Also have you thought about hops? they seem to be very happy around here- as do wild brambles.