"sw" wrote in message
...
rob w wrote:

We have at the bottom of our new garden a very old hawthorn hedge,
this is very thick and quite tall but the bottom 3 to 4 feet is bare
and quite open.
It would be very easy to crawl through. My question is can this hedge
be thickened up or should I remove and replant, I have heard of laying
it over but the bottom trunks are very thick and I’m not sure if
this will work.
Any thoughts / advise gratefully accepted.

Removing the existing hedge would be a tragedy -- if it really is old,
there may be hedgebottom spp (and hedgerow plants) that would be lost,
certainly not included in the standard mixed hedge packs. It's even
possible that you would not be legally allowed to grub up such a piece
of landscape history :-)

If left unmanaged for long periods, hawthorn and most other hedgerow
shrubs grow up to be small trees with bare trunks at the base. To
prevent this, hedges have to be cut back regularly. Laying is a good
thing, but you probably should engage the services of someone who knows
how to do it; it's one of those things that is harder than it looks. An
expert can tell you whether your hedge is fit to lay or not.

If laying is not appropriate, then coppicing is a good way of forcing
the trees to become hedgerow shrubs once more. The only problems are
that you lose the hedge for a few years (perhaps three or four) until
the new growth reaches a decent height, and that if rabbits or hares
have access to the new growth, you might lose the hedge completely.
Rabbit-fencing for a few years after coppicing would be a good idea.


regards
sarah

I agree with Sarah, this hedge should be laid if possible. Once you know
what you are doing it is quite easy. It is the learning that it difficult. I
was taught by a local expert over a two year period (having studied the
theory in books). Do you wish to go to these lengths to lay one hedge?

If not, look around local farms. If anyone has a well laid hedge, ask who
did it and then pay them to do the job for you.

If you wish to do it yourself, the best book to start with, IMHO, is:-
Hedging, a practical handbook by Alan Brooks & Elizabeth Agate, published by
the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV). This book is widely
available but the BTCV web site is at http://www.btcv.org It may still be a
good idea to look round local farms just to see which style (if any) is used
locally.

Whichever route you take, you have a little time to plan things as laying is
a winter job. The trees must be dormant when laid.

Regards

Howard Neil