Growing A Living Fence

I only know what I like…....and I like the looks of your hedge. You are doing a great job. It is already very attractive and will eventually be very useful for your purpose. Good job!

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

I like it but I wouldnt want to weed it. beautiful now, should be quite stunning as the years go by.

I also live on a fairly busy road but the topography near the road is such that the salt from winter ploughing collects in that area so the blue spruce (salt tolerant) shou;ld be big well after I’ve passed on.

I sure wish folks here were as ambitous as you are Robin. Nice Job.

-- Central northish Ontario

Your living fence is looking great already Robin.I like the mix of color in there.Your flower gardens are coming along nicely too.Like we all say “just wait till you see them next year” (lol)

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

Thank you for your kind words.

Iris. I was thinking about your quote “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” It certainly applies to most of my gardens. I choose small trees and shrubs, often only a foot tall, and enjoy watching them grow. Most of the Norway spruce are finally taller than my sons.

Greenthumb, the cardboard and mulch keep most of the weeds down and the weeds that grow pull out of the mulch easily. There are still more weeds than I like, but at least they are manageable. I am hoping that as the plants grow, they will block out the weeds. Our land is significantly higher than the road and salt is used sparingly in our town so thankfully we don’t have too much trouble with salt build up. I love the looks of blue spruce. Do you have a row of them?

Bon, the ‘mum flowers in the photos are primarily located at one corner of the hedgerow where I started. Each year I expand a little further. I seem to plant in stages: trees, shrubs, flowers. Your seeds will be the first time I try directly sowing seeds into the hedgerow garden. I imagine I will have to push away the mulch in the areas I want them to grow and add some compost to get them started. I will add photos as they grow. As you say, just wait until you see them next year. : )

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

Thanks for the beautiful photographs. You have undertaken a massive project and wish you all success in completing it. Your choice of plants is very nice. We will wait for your photos.
Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

thumbs up; thumbs up; thumbs up

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan

Great information here. Living fences are so beautiful.

-- http://www.profenceworks.com http://www.productionfenceworks.com http://www.orlandofencecompany.com http://www.fencesavannah.com

There is nothing like a living fence. I put one between my neighbour and us. We love the neighbours but sometimes, one just wants to be alone. They are hsppy as well. Win! Win!

-- jroot

the only thing better then the neighbor you cant see…........is the neighbor you cant hear…..lol

-- Central northish Ontario

Oh what a massive project but it is going to be beautiful. Great idea of mixing them so you have coverage all season!!Thanks for sharing.

-- Orchids77

Come April, when all these little mail order shrubs arrive, that’s when the work starts and I realize that I am crazy. By then it is too late for sanity because all those precious little shrubs that will arrive need a good garden home or they will die so I just have to do it. Ordering plants in December is the easy part. Buy now, dig later.

Jroot – what types of plants did you use for your fence?

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

I’ve got weigela bush, beauty bush, mock orange, clematis, tree peony, and some other variegated bush that I don’t recall the name right now. All jammed in together. On the neighbour’s side we put a zebra grass, plume poppy, shrub rose, and a good sized fern.

Nice and thick, .... nice and private. LOL and yet, we have a pathway to each other’s place as well which we can use when we wish to be more social. ... which is a lot of the time.

Mine is quite short compared to the distance covered by yours. You do indeed have a lot of work to do, but it will pay off in the end.

-- jroot

Robin, your beginnings are so pretty already…..summer and winter. I think you should be very proud of the work you have done and the beautiful area you have and are going to have for years to come. You are never going to regret the effort you have put in.

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

That’s the neatest and smartest idea I’ve seen in along time!!

Way to go!!!!

-- Brad, http://www.container-gardening-for-you.com

Thank you everyone for your kind and supportive comments; I really appreciate them. It is fun to share what I have done with people who also love to work in the soil and see the natural magic that comes from seeds and the growing and tending of plants.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

Nice work Robin and a great hedge/fence/border.You’ve included a lot of diversity ( btw, the more the better and the less likely you will have any pests as the plants will begin to create their own balance) and you’re using the density of the planting for keeping the weeds down and you’ve provided food for the critters.
Have you considered that you can also plant food for humans as part of the planting? maybe some fruit or nut trees for the canopy, some currants or gooseberries or blueberries as lower shrubs, maybe even some vining annuals like squash or zucchini – just let them go wild into your ‘forest’.

You’ve incorporated a lot of the ideas of permaculture in your planting. If you incorporated some food plants, you would have what’s called a food forest and you can benefit from its presence ( and the work you’ve put into) in other ways than just shelter and privacy.

-- Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves. - Thoreau

Thanks for the good advice, Daltxguy. I would have incorporated plant food for humans except that the hedgerow is along a state route and I have read that if you grow food by a busy road, there can be a buildup of heavy metals (such as lead) in the food from the vehicle exhausts. Second, many of the berries planted in the hedgerow are poisonous to humans so the rule for the children is they can “forage” all they like on the bushes behind the house but the plants in front of the house are off-limits, strictly for the wild animals. For these two reasons, I have kept my edible landscaping efforts behind the house and away from the road.

Behind the house we have clustered areas of blueberry, high bush cranberry, red currants, elderberry, mulberry, cherry, seaberry, apple, heartnut and hazelnut trees and vegetables. I am very interested in permaculture and I have tried to incorporate the idea whenever possible. I realize that I still have much to learn, and your advice is very appreciated.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

love the mix of colors – that red is so lovely in contrast with the winter snow! You grow girl!

-- bee with what is...:) soob

Living fences are great!

-- http://www.profenceworks.com http://www.productionfenceworks.com http://www.orlandofencecompany.com http://www.fencesavannah.com