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Hedging - Choose your own permaculture hedge mix
A deluxe hedge with edible fruits for preserves, wines or just enjoying.
This informal mixed hedge is productive and will also greatly encourage wildlife into your garden. This hedge can be trimmed to keep it in check but for best flowers and fruit it should be given some room to grow a bit wild.
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Our suggested mix
The point of choose-your-own is so that you can create a mix of the plants that you love most, but if you would like a suggestion for an affordable, lovely mix, we would simply choose an even mixture of as many of the below species as possible:
Aronia melanocarpa - Black Chokeberry
Cornus mas - Cornelian Cherry
Amelanchier lamarckii - Snowy Mespilus
Sambucus nigra - Elder
Elaeagnus umbellata - Autumn Olive
Malus sylvestris - Crab Apple
The more diversity in a mixed hedge, the better, but if there are only a few species available, don't worry! Any mixture of two plants or more is still a mixed hedge!
Site
Will take some inland exposure and will grow in any reasonable soil
Spacing
We recommend planting this hedge at 2 plants per meter but you can space them further apart if preferred.
Planting
For best results, we recommend planting the varieties in groups that repeat themselves down along the hedge, with the exception of Crabapple which is best dotted individually.
Pruning
When first planted, a good prune will encourage good bushy growth, how hard you cut the plants depends on how low down you want them to bush from. Ongoing this hedge can either be trimmed regularly or left to grow, early spring or late Autumn after fruiting is the best time to prune.
Care
Keeping any young hedge weed and grass free is vital to the overall vigour and health of the hedge. Using weed membrane keeps back weeds and insulates the roots and will greatly increase growth rates, as well as cutting down on your weeding work. Mulching is another great option for insulating the roots and holding back weeds, bark mulch is the most commonly used medium.
Aronia melanocarpa Galicjanka
€22.00
Chokeberry Galicjanka A highly productive Aronia with abundant edible berries, Aronia melanocarpa Galicjanka Is a substantial, deciduous shrub of average vigour with an upright, bushy, suckering habit. The green, egg-shaped leaves turn deep purple in autumn. Single white flowers appear in May and June and are followed in September and October by...
Amelanchier lamarckii - Snowy Mespilus
€3.50
Snowy Mespilus A large, upright shrub or small tree with a graceful, open habit, Amelanchier lamarckii is grown for its lovely blossom and autumn colour. It bears loose racemes of starry, white flowers in late spring, followed by red to purplish-black berries, which are edible, if insipid, and attractive to birds. The leaves open bronze, turning...
Aronia melanocarpa
Aronia melanocarpa
€3.00
Black Chokeberry Upright, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub with alternate, dark green glossy leaves which turn red in autumn. Heads of star shaped white, sometimes pink-flushed, flowers in late spring followed by drooping clusters of black berries in autumn. The fruit is very astringent, rich in pectin so good for making into jam, berries are best...
Cornus mas
Cornus mas
€3.00
Cornelian cherry A large deciduous shrub that produces lots of shiny red berries, this fruit has long been used as a food crop as well as been loved by birds. Cornus mas has soft foliage with small, bright yellow flowers in early Spring that are followed by fleshy, bright red, cherry-like fruits in late Summer. Attractive bark on older plants. ...
Elaeagnus umbellata
Elaeagnus umbellata
€3.00
Autumn Olive A vigorous growing, deciduous shrub native to the Himalays, China and Japan. Elaeagnus umbellata has green to grey-green foliage with silvery undersides. Branches have sharp, woody, thorn-like spurs. Early Summer brings very fragrant, yellowish-white flowers and pale red, juicy fruits appear in Autumn. The fruit is edible and high ...
Malus sylvestris - Crabapple
€2.00
Malus sylvestris - Crabapple A native Irish tree often found in old hedgerows or found deliberated planted round old farmsteads, Malus sylvestris is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree with a spreading, rounded canopy and bushy habit. The mid-green leaves are oval. Beautiful pinkish-white blossom, very nectar-rich and attractive to pollinator...
Permaculture Hedge Mix
Permaculture Hedge Mix
€80.00
Permaculture Hedge Mix A deluxe hedge with edible fruits for preserves, wines or just enjoying. This informal mixed hedge is productive and will also greatly encourage wildlife into your garden. This hedge can be trimmed to keep it in check but for best flowers and fruit it should be given some room to grow a bit wild. This hedge mix is made up ...
Sambucus nigra - Elder
Sambucus nigra - Elder
€2.50
Native Elder - (Tromán) One of the most well known native trees, Sambucus nigra is an exceptionally good wildlife-supporting species in Ireland and fits into any hedgerow. In Spring you will often hear the tree buzzing with excitement as thousands of insects are seen feeding off of the flowers. And don't be surprised to see people wandering hedg...