"H Ryder" wrote in message
...
We have a native type hedge bounding our garden. It is a bit thin and
gappy
in places and I'd like to "fatten it up" a little. I know that wild
flowers
need poor soil but what about "wild" hedges? Should I feed it? It is
mainly
hawthorn, beech and honeysuckle (which I'd like to encourage) and bramble
which I'd like to discourage (so as not to spike small children). I've
bought some bare rooted native hedge mix and planted these in teh worst
bits
but am not sure how to encourage teh rest to grow denser. TIA,

--
Hayley
(gardening on well drained, alkaline clay in Somerset)


It probebly needs laying, basically field hedges only stay hedges if they
are ruetinely cut back or "layed" which is a method of cutting half to two
thirds through the stems then breaking them down side ways and weaving them
all together, I am sure if you looked there are books or web sites with
pictures. Its not hard (quite hard work though!) but only the skilled can
achieve decretive results straight away (bit like dry stone walling, idea
simple, in practice hard to achieve an artistic result with out experience)