Hedging
Hedges serve purposes of privacy, screening one area from another, backdrops for other plants and windbreaks
Types of Hedges
Evergreen
- Provides year round colour
- Usually clipped in July/August
- Makes a formal hedge or natural sunscreen
Deciduous
- Can be clipped or natural
- Provides colour and texture in growing season
- A variety of flower colours add a nice touch
Planting Hedges
- Can be placed in a single row, double row or staggered
- Bare Root ? Best planted in cooler temperatures (spring or fall)
- Potted Hedge - can be planted anytime
- Keep plant roots covered and moist until planted
- Dig a trench 2? wide by 1? deep where hedge is to be planted (Wider and deeper if plant root requires it)
- Soil Mixture ? Make mixture out of 2/3 good soil like Pro-Mix, and 1/3 peat moss for moisture retention. Add a phosphorus fertilizer (Bonemeal or Plant Starter) for root development to the mixture
- Stretch a cord/string to define where hedge is to be planted
- Set plants in at 1.5? to 2? spacing, fill in with soil mixture, tread lightly with feet to firm and water thoroughly
- Apply a layer of mulch for moisture control
- Keep well-watered for the first growing season
Pruning
Always use sharp shears for a clean cut
- Informal or natural hedges are usually cut back by 1/3 to promote thickness
- Formal hedges are cut back up to ? their height for dense, thick development right down to the base.
- Each year until ultimate height is achieved, cut the new growth back by 1/2 to promote bushiness
- When ultimate height is reached, shear to almost no new growth each year.
- Always prune a hedge narrower on top than at the base
- How many time a year the hedge is clipped depends on how quickly it grows
- Evergreen hedges are usually pruned in July or August when growth is finished
- When to prune a deciduous hedge is dictated by its flowering period. Generally, anything that flowers before June 15th is pruned after it flowers and anything after June 15th is pruned very early in the Spring or late in the Fall
Fertilizing
- Established hedges are fertilized by side dressing with any complete garden fertilizer in the Spring
- Apply again before the end of June