[kopperdrake]

Hi all I have two small areas I'm giving free reign to the chickens and rather than rely on chickenwire to keep them from roaming I'd like to plant a hedge, about 3ft high, that has edible bits on it - fruit, leaves, nuts, etc. The total lengths are about 35ft and 10ft, though I'll need to put a gate in both to get through, so one isn't long at all. So far I was thinking of a row of gooseberries, but there's a limit to how many of those I can eat! Any suggestions? The soil is pretty neutral, the site is south-facing, hence why I don't want to waste it, we do get a wind here.

Thanks for any ideas!

[LivvyW]

Thats very strange, i could have written your post about 2 months ago.
(in fact i think i did)

We have put in an edible hedge two weeks ago.  It is about 60ft in total, with two gates into my veg garden. It too was primarily to allow the hens to free range a bit more, (which they are loving!!!) But also to create a windbreak for the veg.

www.hedging.co.uk was about the best site i could find, but i found it difficult to get real good advice.

In the end we went for a mix of the following

Blackthorn -  for sloes, sloeberry gin!
Hawthorn - for flowers and berries, Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall made haw jelly recently.
Copper Beech - just for a bit of rusty colour in the winter
Hazels - for the nuts and poles
Dog rose - for the flowers and rose hips

Its really very exciting, because i have no idea what each plant will look like throughout the year.   

I've been taking hardwood cuttings of all my gooseberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, anywayso if i need to fill in any gaps i can. 

Hope that helps.

[poultrygeist]

Are you thinking of edible for the hens or for you kopperdrake ?

Rob

[GrannieAnnie]

LOL Kopperdrake!!  I can just see you fighting the hens to get to your edible hedge.  Bet they eat more than you do!!!!!

Good luck with it and let us know what you go for in the end, be interesting to see if it works, or if the hens eat their way through to the veggies!!!!

And it may have to be higher than 3ft!

[poultrygeist]

 

It'll be nice to see them jumping for the top ones 

Rob

[kopperdrake]

Cheers all! Thanks Livvy for the suggestions - scarily similar situation!

The edibles are primarily for us humans, but the chickens will no doubt take their share from the other side I'm not going to be precious about these plants - there's nothing there at the moment but it seems daft to plant something useless like a privet hedge, and chicken wire would be a waste of good earth. I may be too late to do any planting this year, I believe hedges should have gone in by now so it'll likely be an autumn job, but it'll be fun planning it and I can put some temporary wire up for now - I'll definitely update this post with what we end up doing!

[kopperdrake]

Oh Livvy, scarily, that website link you gave is one I've spent the last hour looking over - lol!

[poultrygeist]

We've bought from them a couple of times and they are very efficient and seem to send out healthy plants.

Rob

[mickwood]

Oooh what a great site! You've started me thinking...edible hedge and all that wildlife it'd attract! 

[kopperdrake]

I know - good for the wildlife, good for us! My other option is to chickenwire it but leave enough space in front to plant something against it, like espalier fruit trees, but a hedge would be fantastic for birds as well.

[oldbean]

I planted a mixed hedge using about 100 plants around 20 years ago. There is plenty of bird activity around now, where before it was a bit limited.

Small leaf lime
Blackthorn
Hazel
Dog rose
Guelder rose
Hornbeam
Field maple
Silver birch
Goat willow
Crab apple
Hawthorn

I know there are different varieties of some of them, but lets not get complicated.

Hazel will easily get to 10' before it produces nuts and 15' is needed for poles. There's also pea sticks. If you have 10 plants, you could start getting something from one in 5 years, and then 1 a year after that.

Dog rose, a year or two before any hips, but it needs a lot longer to produce quantities. I find the roadside hedge rows better for this, as you need a lot of hedge for enough hips. Handy for itching powder.

Field maple, firewood, kindling, minced bits for compost.

Silver birch, grown into trees, anything up to 35' now. Have had birch sap from them, though it's just for a novelty. Useful sticks for uses similar to field maple.

Crabapple, haven't seen any fruit yet.

Hawthorn, amazing smell from the blossom, haven't done anything with the hips.

I read in one of Geoff Hamilton's "Cottage Gardens" describing a cottage hedge of quickthorn. The hedge was cut down six years running after planting to make a dense hedge, so patience is useful.

Geoff also mentions you need 3' of width for the hedge, mine is not as thin as that 

I doubt a hedge 3' high will produce much for eating.

[Stripey_cat]

If you have room for small-medium trees, then crab-apples, elder, wild cherry, bullaces or rowan are all good sources of edibles, with the bonus of nice blossom (edible, too, for elder).  Thorns can get large too, if you don't lay them properly. 

You'll probably need to wire the hedge, too, though, as chickens will scramble up or tunnel through almost anything, even with clipped wings, if they really want to see what's on the other side!  Also, they'll lay under the hedge, so be prepared to fight thorns to remove eggs.

Personally, I'd try to find room for some hazel, willow or ash for coppice poles if you have the width.

[kopperdrake]

Cheers guys - I'm beginning to think that I don't have the width needed to produce anything worthwhile after reading this If I gave that kind of width then the chickens will have less to run around in, so I may end up going for a woven willow fence, we have enough willow left cut around here by the farmers. I may still leave a foot in front to grow fruiting shrubs like gooseberries though, it would be a shame to leave nothing on the south-facing side of the barrier.

Thanks again for all the advice though - if I had an acre I figure I'd still have no problem filling it with something!

[andtiggertoo]

I have some rosemary bushes growing that can be grown as a hedge (I have seen this grown as a hedge when we were on holiday on Cornwall). The variety is Miss Jessops upright, and it will grow to 3 feet high. Right now it's covered in lovely small blue flowers. It's not edible as in you could base a meal on it, but it is good I'm told to season lamb.

I and OH are veggie so I've not tried it out myself but my neighbours have permission to help themselves and have said it's good.

It also smells lovely when you brush up against it. And it looks really nice too.