And so today we tackled the final hedge in our car park. The younger hedge in front of the shop may have looked smaller but it was still a full day’s work to turn this tangle of seriously spiky Hawthorn and yellowing Field Maple into a curvaceous thing of practical beauty.
The same principles were used as on the large hedge and we got incredibly lucky and had another fine and sunny early winter’s day in which to work.
Before we started...
Pleach away!
Contemplating whether to lose one of the trunks on this Hawthorn before laying...
Stake placing...
Tucking in the side shoots to keep it thick... the more we can save the better
Weaving in the very first binder...
It does not take long once you get going. We have yet to tamp down the binders or fully pound in the stakes...
And so after five hours work we go from this rather rangey hedge....
To this wonderfully South of England style layed hegde...
Before...
After...
So a big thank you to my Dad and his crew for doing such a superb job over the last three Fridays and for letting me help too!
17-11-17
PS: I added this last picture this morning as it was too dark last night but it was full of birds with foraging Dunnocks, Robins, Wrens and Blackbirds and the Sparrows were investigating too...!
Howard Vaughan, Information Officer