Why a mixed hedgerow earns its space

A hedge is one of the hardest-working things you can put in a garden. It marks your boundary, screens a neighbour's trampoline, slows the wind and shelters the rest of your planting — but a single-species hedge of leylandii or neat box does little for wildlife. A mixed hedgerow of native shrubs does all of the above and doubles as a larder, a nursery and a motorway for small creatures.

The key word is mixed. Different shrubs flower at different times, hold berries for different lengths, and grow to different heights. A blackbird wants a dense, thorny tangle at chest height; a song thrush wants a snail-anvil nearby; a queen bumblebee emerging in March wants the first blossom she can find. A row of one species cannot supply all of that. Six to eight natives planted together can.

A hedge also connects your garden to the wider landscape. If your neighbours have fences, your hedge becomes a corridor — a safe route along which hedgehogs, wrens, mice and slow-worms can travel without crossing open ground.

Choosing species for your soil and site

Buy bare-root whips from a specialist native nursery, or ask about British-grown stock. Never dig plants from the wild, and check first whether the boundary is yours to plant on.

For most gardens, this mix works well:

• Hawthorn — the backbone of a British hedgerow. Frothy white May blossom for pollinators, deep red haws in autumn, and dense thorny growth that blackbirds and dunnocks nest in readily.
• Blackthorn — earlier than hawthorn, flowering on bare black stems in March and April. Sloes follow in autumn; the thicket it forms is superb cover.
• Hazel — catkins in late winter, nuts in September, and a superb nesting shrub with its arching stems.
• Field maple — the best small native tree for a hedge. Golden autumn colour and winged seeds that bullfinches and greenfinches will take.
• Holly — slow-growing and evergreen, giving shelter and berries through the hardest weeks of winter.
• Dog rose — open, cup-shaped flowers for bees, then hips for thrushes and waxwings.
• Guelder rose — creamy lace-like flowers, translucent red berries, and fiery autumn leaves.
• Crab apple — blossom in spring, small tart fruit that birds peck once the frosts have softened them.

Add elder, spindle, wild privet or rowan if you have the room. On heavy clay, hawthorn and blackthorn will be happiest; on dry, chalky ground lean towards field maple, spindle and dog rose.

Preparing the ground and planting

Bare-root plants go in between November and March, whenever the ground is not frozen or waterlogged. Autumn planting gives roots time to settle before spring.

Clear a strip at least 60cm (2ft) wide of grass and perennial weeds — this is the single biggest factor in whether your hedge thrives. Dig the strip over, incorporate a little well-rotted compost, and plant a double, staggered row with plants about 40cm apart, roughly five plants per metre. Staggering gives you a thicker, more wildlife-friendly hedge than a single line.

Plant to the same depth the plants were growing before — look for the soil mark on the stem. Firm them in well, then water thoroughly, even in winter. Fit a spiral guard or a short cane to each whip if rabbits, deer or pheasants are about, and mulch the whole strip with bark chippings or well-rotted manure, keeping it clear of the stems.

Care in the first three years

Young whips compete badly with grass and weeds, so keep the strip clear for at least two summers — by hand, hoe or mulch rather than strimmer, which will strip bark and kill the stems.

• Water deeply in dry spells during the first two growing seasons.
• Top up the mulch each spring.
• Do not cut the leaders. Let the plants gain height before you shape them.
• Replace any failures in the following winter — gaps become weak points.

Growth looks slow at first, then suddenly the hedge takes off. Be patient: a native hedge that looks like a line of sticks in year one will be waist-high and full of nesting birds by year three.

Cutting it right

From year three onwards, trim in late winter — January or February — after the berries have been eaten but before birds start nesting. Avoid cutting between March and August, when nests are active; it is both illegal to disturb nesting birds and a waste of the year's growth.

Aim for an A-shape, wider at the base than the top. That lets light reach the lower branches and keeps the base dense rather than bare and leggy. Cut on a rotation if you can: trim one side or one section each year and leave the rest to flower and fruit. If you have space, allow one shrub in ten to grow up into a small tree — these standards are where birds sing from and where moths and bats will feed.

After ten or fifteen years, a hedge can be rejuvenated by laying or by cutting a section hard back to 30cm and letting it regrow. Do a third at a time so wildlife always has somewhere to go.

What you will gain

Within a couple of years you can expect blossom for bees and hoverflies in spring, caterpillars on the leaves through summer, berries for thrushes from September, and dense cover for nesting tits, robins, wrens and dunnocks. Holly and ivy carried through the hedge will feed blackcaps and fieldfares in the coldest weeks.

Plant it for the boundary, and you will end up planting it for the birds. A mixed native hedgerow is the best single investment a wildlife-friendly garden can make — and once it is established, it asks for little more than an annual haircut and a bit of patience.