Planting a free hedge & sneaking in more trees.

[Darwin.]

There's a drain/stream that runs along the bottom of my garden, it's not terribly safe. In one area it's only a 1' drop into it but it's along a bog so if you step in, you're stuck. In other areas it's a good 6' drop into it.

Anyways, my plan is to plant a hedge along it and do it for free. The other side of it is a Hawthorn hedge, I'm thinking of just taking cuttings off it and sticking them in the ground, will that work?

My wife says 75 trees is enough to have in a garden so I'm not allowed any more. A wild hedge has to have trees in it though. It'll be a 60m-ish hedge, how many trees should I fit in that? I'll be growing all those from seed so they're free too.

It's a long term project. I'll start this weekend and still be at it in 40 years if I live that long.

[hellybore]

Hawthorn hedge, I'm thinking of just taking cuttings off it and sticking them in the ground, will that work?

This is how I started off my hedge, I took cuttings from hawthorn and stuck them in the ground - most have rooted and are a couple of years old now. I used willow cuttings too, and dogwood. I have a cherry tree seedling as part of the hedge too, and some small hazel saplings I bought.
Can't remember the spacing but if you google 'planting a native hedge' you should get some answers.
Hope this helps.

[Darwin.]

Thanks, I figure I'll put them about 1' apart and hope for the best. It'll be years before I have a full hedge out of it but I don't mind.

[Fleurisa]

If you plant them as a zig zag double row it'll look better and will fill out quicker

[Darwin.]

I never thought of that, cheers.

[Rob the Radish]

Two rows, 18 inches spacing between each plant in a row, second row staggers on the first row so when you stand back it looks like the plants are 9 inches apart hope that makes sense.

Also I get lots of trees I dig up around the edges of our fields that have lain fallow for a year, I always pot these up and when established they get planted in spinners, hedgerows, woods etc, so what I am saying is a local farm may well let you dig some unwanted trees that have germinated on the field edges, smaller farmers are more likely to actually care about the trees and like to see a home for them.