[Madame Cholet]

I'd like to edge the allotment with a mixture of native plants for eating, brewing and preserving.
Rose
plum
pear
crab apple
sorbus
hazel
beech
sloe
hathorn
sweet chesnut

Will they need tree guards initially and would it be better to plant all the same varieties together or mix it completely.

[beansticks]

Most of those will grow fairly large,what happens when you give up the plot?No offence intended,but you would not be allowed to plant any of those on our site.

[Madame Cholet]

Will keep it down to about 3'  in line with every one elses fencing so  it doesn't shade out the neighbours. Thought it would be more eco friendly and absorb some CO2s and act as a wind break and I could share some of the produce with other gardeners.

[DD.]

I could be wrong, but would have thought that keeping some of those down to 3' would stop them producing, (beech, hazel, crab apple, sweet chestnut & the like), and also some of them would not develop a bushy habit suitable for that height hedge anyway.

[Rangerkris]

Its a fantastic idea but theres always a but. DD is right most of the tree's there need to be grown as tree's if you was on the outer edge of a site like i am you might just get away with it. i will be doing something like this over the winter   


Like i say its a great idea look around it not some thing i have taken notice of the height and age of the fruiting tree's that you have listed.   You would only need to guard if you have bunnies on the site we plant up about 1000m a year in the country park in this formation without guards

*    *    *   *
   *    *    *

each tree is a meter spacing ready for hedge laying in 6-7 years time

Hope this helps it might not be the answer you want ut take a look at others to see the height that they fruit at

[DD.]

DD is right

 

[savbo]

I'd reckon you could keep them growing  as a low hedge but without much fruit as others have said. So what would make a good low hedge that fruits? Step-over apples spring to mind. Goji/DoA Tea Plant would but would need to be bigger that 3'. Brambles and logans through a native hedge? any other ideas>

[Madame Cholet]

I guess I'm not expecting huge yelds just a bonus on what I would get if I erected a fence for the same price, and I guess the birds will eat a lot. Plus the bonus of flowers,autumn colours, wild life and the crab apples would polinate my other apples. Yes we have bunnies its a new field being brought into use, I guess deer as well.

I have toyed with the idea of rasberies by the gate, some types are quite self supporting

[scabs]

I love the idea and done thoughtfully, like others have said, could work really nicely, as long as you don't expect huge yeilds.

Add to that the fauna it would attract!

I have a large metal fence at the back of my plot, running onto a canal footpath and lock, and kids have been known to climb over. I was thinking of planting a mix of blackthorn and hawthorn as a natural (and quite forbidding) barrier, allowing growth of up to 8' or so. (If the Committee approves). I should stress that both adjacent plots are pigeon lofts and the back half of their plots is a mess of bramble, nettle, bindweed etc, so given that and the fact that the positioning is unobtrusive, I won't be impacting anyone else.

Sloes, hawes, blossom, birds, butterflies... 

[gillie]

I don't think you would get ANY yield off most of the trees/shrubs you were thinking of planting because to keep the hedge that low you would be constantly cutting off the fruiting wood.  Something like a hazel can easily put on three or four feet a year, so you would have to cut it back several times in a season.  Hawthorns do not crop below about six feet and sweet chestnuts probably go up to twenty feet before they think about producing.

Our hedges (used as windbreaks) are around eight feet tall and probably six or more feet thick.  We get some blackberries, sloes and crab apples from them, and a fine show of blackthorn and hawthorn flowers in the spring, followed by wild roses.   Squirrels take any nuts but we are self sufficient in pea sticks and bean poles.

Each winter the bottoms of the hedges are tidied to prevent brambles sprawling across the field and every couple of years or so a farmer neighbour cuts the tops with a tractor mounted flail.

Gillie

[lovemyveg]

This is a lovely idea, but you will be causing yourself lots of work in  future years.  Our large garden boundaries are all made up of native hedging and they grow many feet per year in height and width.  We used to cut these ourselves but now employ a local man to do this as he has a shredder and makes light work of the cutting.  You would sometime need hedge-layer done in order to keep the bottom half of the hedge growing.  Easier to tame would be raspberries, blackberries, all the currants, espalier apples, peaches, etc.  Good luck with this venture.

[hamstergbert]

One of the really robust garden fuchsia varieties will grow reasonably quickly into a really attractive hedge, not too difficult to keep under control. 

Edible?  The berries are of course edible - or am I the last person West of the Urals to know about fuchsia jam?  (Yeah, okay so it works best if you mix crabapples in with the fuchsia berries.  So sue me....)

[Patricia]

How about a red currant or black currant hedge? And then you can definately use the produce and so will the birds.

[Ourveggiepatch]

Hi

I am going to plant a fruit hedge along the bottom of our allotment but it wont affect any other lottie holders, however I will only plant soft fruits.

I think trees would be difficult to manage and also you need to think about the root runs - I would be very worried if my neighbour lottie holder talked about planting trees when their root sytem will innevitably invade my growing space - some of the trees you mention are a devil for invading surrounding land, sprouting easily and a pig to get rid off.

Dont forget the size of the root ball on these trees will be 2 or 3 times larger than the bushy bit at the top - this will give you an idea of how invasive this would be for your neighbours!


Nice idea but I would suggest not for an allotment.

Sorry

OVP.

[Madame Cholet]

Like the idea of fuschia jam, is it a jam or a jelly. I've made all sorts of jams thats a new one on me.