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05-05-2004, 08:05 AM

writes:
On 4 May 2004 02:36:53 -0700 in
,
(aj) graced the world with this thought:

Hello
I'd like to put a hedge at the bottom of my garden, approx 25ft wide.
It would be nice to use native British species, that I could eat,
drink or use.
I was thinking about using hazel and elder.
It will be against a fence that faces west and gets shade from a few
surrounding deciduous trees.
Has anyone else done this? Do you think it's a good/bad idea?
How far-apart should I plant them?

Thanks
AJ
Staffordshire, England

would some kind of hedge of berries on fencing work?

Another thing to consider is grapes. There is a house in our neighborhood
that has a grape hedge kept at a height of about four feet. It looks
great, even in the winter. They have kept the horizontal branches fairly
evenly spaced to have a thick hedge when it's leafed out. When it's
leafed out, you don't even notice it is grapes. It's really cool the way
they have trained it, much like espaliering (sp?) fruit trees only better.
:-)

Glenna