Growing a mixed hedgerow in Southland

Many of our new orchards are to have hedgerows planted around them to protect them from the wind and provide other 'ecological services' to the orchards, such as attracting pollinators and useful predatoy insects. There's no 'one way' with these hedgerows – it's a new field that we are playing with and while we are not trying to reproduce the sorts of hedgerows that grew and grow in Britain, there will be similarities. We have plants down here in Southland that are native and suitable for inclusion in hedgerows here; plants such as kakabeak and kowhai, which being legumes, provide nitrates to feed the other trees in the row, for example. Nor will we be laying the hedge in the way that the old hawthorn hedges of England were laid. Ours aren't designed to keep livestock in or out, so don't need to be sheep-proof. We'll be planting our hedgerows beside fences, so our designs can be more relaxed. With that, let's look at the kinds of trees, shrubs, vines and herbs that can be used to make a multi-purpose Southland hedgerow.

Hazels. I regard them as basic for an attractive, resiliant and robust hedgerow. They'll grow anywhere in Southland and can be started from nuts and are therefore cheap. I push hazelnuts into the soil in early winter and pot up the seedlings in mid-spring. They are trouble-free. Hazels can be left to grow naturally, where they will form a copse, or they can be coppiced, in which case they'll produce 'wands' that can be harvested and used for various purposes, such as stakes for trees or walking sticks for elderly orchardists. Sweet chestnuts too can be grown the same way and coppiced for similar purposes. Both are very attractive. Our native wineberry can be treated the same way. They are very easy to grow from seed. They attract birds like crazy and that's something we want our hedgerows to do. Native fuschia too, produce berries and flowers that birds love and can be coppiced if they get to large for the hedgerow. The kowhai and kakabeak I mentioned earlier, can't but don't become too massive for the purpose and will provide perching for native birds, especially kereru which will prune them for you, for free. Crab apples, grown from pips, suit a hedgerow well and are free to those who can be bothered growing them. Cherry-plums also, fit well in a system like this, and are easy to grow. Their fruits might or might not be delicious. There are numerous other similar small trees that can be included and those are a matter of personal choice. Things that produce small fruits, such as spindleberry and silver buffalo berry are specialist trees that can be sourced with a bit of internet work, and are up to the hedgerow creator to include as they wish. Please avoid pest plants such as barberry, holly, cotoneaster and so on. They are a menace. That said, I really like elder and think it's easy to manage and has such useful flowers and fruits. The call is yours.

Flowering currants are a shrub that's easy to propagate and ideal for inclusion in a hedgerow. They grow from seed readily and grow quickly, reaching an ideal hedge-row height and staying there. They can be pruned in the same way an edible currant can and will provide early-season flowers for the honey-bees to utilize. Black, red and white currants should be, in my opinion, a significant part of every hedgerow in Southland. They are trouble-free and produce masses of fruit which, if you want to harvest, you must cover with netting. If you don't, your local bird population will feast up large. Currants grow readily from cuttings taken in the early winter and poked into the ground in situ. Gooseberries too, suit this method. Like the currants, gooseberries (and Wosterberries) love Southland and grow vigorously and are untroubled by disease. They make great nest sites for birds and that's a service a good mixed hedgerow can provide. I put cabbage trees into the hedgerow too, because of their usefulness to starlings, who nest in the crowns and do a power of work in the spring, feeding their yunkers on grubs from the field or garden. Good birds, in the right place.

Through the network of branches provided by these trees and shrubs, vines can be grown. Native clematis looks very well here, but has no fruits that are useful, so as well as those, vines such as grape and kiwifruit can be frown, so long as you are willing to prune them yearly. If not, don't plant them as they are very vigorous. Hops can form part of a hedgerow system and grow vigorously too, but seem to do no harm. Their flowers are useful for brewing and getting a good night's sleep. There's a place here for 'bush lawyer', as it's attractive and has lovely edible fruits, but you know its drawback. I will plant these, but others might be anxious about having them in their hedgerow. Rugosa roses too, are 'stabby' but look very attractive and produce large, edible hips that can be made into syrup.

Underplant your main trees and shrubs with whatever you like. The plants that suit the environment you've created will thrive, those that don't, won't. I like to see cleavers and poroporo in a hedgerow, others don't. Elecampagne, yarrow, comfrey and burdock will establish under the skirts of a hedgerow, but aren't universally admired. They are good medicinal plants though, so it's your call depending on what you want your hedgerow to provide for you. If it's just shelter from the wind, these plants won't interest you much. This 'list' of plants is just a suggestion. Your hedgerow can have anything at all that you want in it and I hope to discover in ten years time, that there is a rich variety of hedgerows across the region, protecting their orchards and providing diversity in the landscape.

Planting a hedgerow is simple – dig holes, install plant. The plan to establishing one is a loose one and is up to whatever you are able to do. I like to plant all of my hazels out at once, for example, right around the orchard, as they all reach plnting size at about the same time. I then go about with a variety of trees and interplant the lines of hazels with that mixture. Amongst those, I'll next put the berry-bushes and smaller shrubs, then finer and finer plants until I'm down to sowing seeds of whatever annuals I want to have appearing year after year.

I know this is a rough guide only, but I think that once you've started, you'll make your own plans and decisions about how a Southland hedgerow should be created. We're on new ground here, so please let me know what your experience is with hedgerow planting. I will write again, once I know more. Good luck with what I believe is a very valuble project that will add a great deal to the region's ecological health.