[LivvyW]

I want to section off the 'working area' of the garden, or more grandly the 'kitchen garden' as i'm going to call it when it has 'walls'.

We want to let the hens free range a bit more and i'll be damned if they are getting near my veggies.

The main reason for building is
1. to keep the hens off the veg
2. to give me more space to plant edibles/harvestables
3. to add a bit of shelter to what is a fairly exposed site.

I am moving all my raspberry runners, and have bought blackthorn and hazel. I am propogating all my currants, goosegogs and blueberries. I don't mind if it takes a while, but want to do it fairly cheaply.

My OH is building a 'rustic picket fence'.  I know it's hard without seeing the site, but what sort of height would a hedge/fence need to be to provide some sort of windbreak?

Anyone got any thoughts, or interesting websites that could help?

[mumofstig]

You don't really want it too tall to shade your veg. Dunno if this helps.....

In general, windbreaks are effective up to a distance of 10 times the height of the windbreak. So for example a hedge 1 m (3 foot) high will provide protection from wind for a distance of up to 10 m (30 foot) from the windbreak.

[Rangerkris]

http://www.hedgelaying.org.uk/   Take a look here for some idea's its not the fastest but when i have done hedgelaying even if i say so myself it look awsome.  With a mixture of black thorn, hazel nothing will want to go through it at all.

[Stripey_cat]

^^ If you don't lay the hedges properly, the chickens will get through at the base very easily!

[celjaci]

great idea!  a mixed fruiting hedge will be a wonderful asset for wildlife as well.

The zone of influence will depend on the density of the hedge but I seem to remember at a distance of 5 times the height of the hedge the wind speed will be reduced by 50%.

so a hedge of 2m will give good protection for 10m behind it

[corco2000]

LivvyW,

How did this fence turn out? I also want to build a fence around my veg patch....this is how I was going to do it and I would love some feed back from all on how to go about this....
I was going to put up a post 10ft apart with two rails along them (top and bottom) and then attach with tacks zel rods every 2-3inches? Another way I was thinking, instead of the rail I culd put up three lines of wire and weave the hazel rods inbetween the wire?

I also have chickens and ducks and dogs I want to keep away from veg patch.

I wonder also if I put the rods in the ground by pushing them down would they 'take' grow new shoots?

I would love to hear what you guys think please :-)

[sunshineband]

The hedge sounds a brilliant idea and there are loads of plants you could grow in it.

I think it will be very difficult to keep it chicken proof at ground level. Have you thought of including some chickne mesh at the base when you first plant, and as the hedge thickens it will become almost invisible, but do the job.

This is what my DD has done with her mixed hedge in the garden as they have a disabled cat they wanted to ensure could not escape, and it has worked a treat 

[LivvyW]

Hi Corco2000,

We did the fence by putting posts about 4ft apart and two bars across, then we stapled chicken wire from the top post to the ground.

We planted hazel, dogrose, blackthorn, hawthorn, beech and a few gooseberries in a manured trench. The plants were very small (good value) and put some growth last year, and i'm hoping it all 'plumps' up nicely this year.

The chickens only ventured into the veggies once, and that was because i left one of the gates open!!

HTH