This video was great! I love the idea of living structures. I think it’s important as designers to always keep in mind that a design doesn’t need to be or isn’t static. Look to nature, remember the stages of session. Do ecosystems remain as they are forever? They are always change growing into new things. I think one more very important thing to come out of looking at design this way is that it’s ok not to get it right. It’s ok to have somethings not work and even when you are designing to allow yourself to not have all the right answers.
What a lovely idea! Never too late to implement good design!! Love that! I have so much shade and wish I was more confident in my knowledge and ideas as the best way to use my space. Thanks for your great videos!
Definitely makes sense to me to make changes to make your space work family for your family's needs. We have an area that we're about to do this on, though it's a zone 1 spot.
This video is perfect timing, as I'm also planning a hedge row for the back perimeter of our yard. It isn't much more than a privacy fence with some scattered sword ferns at the moment, but I bought several small to large native shrubs from the Sparrowhawk sale to get it started. Things like tall Oregon grape, golden currant, flowering red currant, thimbleberry, etc. I'm moving a salmonberry from the front yard to the back fence for the hedge row as well. Part of the fence borders the chicken and duck run so it has to be able to survive the birds. LOL. I hadn't considered including small fruit trees since the main goal was creating more wildlife food and habitat, but maybe I will now. ;)
Terrible tasting zombie apocalypse food. 😂 Absolutely LOVE the idea of a living hedgerow! I’m eyeing my 1/8th acre now and wondering where I can put a hedgerow of diverse plantings.
Feel so lucky that your Permaculture Homestead is in a nearby area so l that what you say is immediately applicable to me in choosing things to put in in this area which is new for me.
When I moved into my home, I planted a group of chestnut seedlings close together wanting to grow big nut trees in my front yard. On the recommendation of a friend, I just planted some grocery store nuts, because I was broke and impatient, but knew I wanted chestnut trees. The variety I unwittingly planted were Colossal nuts, which I did not know, is a pollen sterile tree. I planted three trees to insure pollination, but none of these trees produce pollen. They have been used mostly as coppice or pollard for wood, with only rare occasional nuts. This has been a disaster for nut production. Last fall, I planted one chestnut named variety seeding near the Colossal, and will be planting another this fall, and trying to get a named variety from a nursery in spring to plant a third in my front yard for nut production. As the younger trees grow, I will be keeping the Colossal for pollarding, and getting some nuts, these trees nuts are bland, but edible, and will be abundant once the new trees put out pollen. The larger the new trees grow, the more intensively I will prune the Colossal until its a small coppice or gone. The reason I want to remove the Colossal, is because I don't want the pollen sterile genetics in the nuts I grow, and I don't want more pollen sterile chestnuts in the world. I want the squirrels, any foragers who spot my trees, or anyone I give nuts or trees to, to have nuts from trees that will pollinate going forward should any be planted. As my new chestnuts take over, I will be propagating a lot of small fruit trees I have in that area to move them without having to dig them up. I will be starting that process next spring. Big changes that move slowly are less overwhelming, but they do require planning and patience. I love hedgerows, but usually laid hedges are not placed against fences, because they are grown to be the fences. My own fences caused me to decide against hedgelaying in favour of a mixed shrub/small tree food forest hedge on my fence lines. Check out the FB group Coppicing, Pollarding, and Hedgelaying North America, there are some knowledgeable hedge layers there.
I love the idea of a hedgerow! I would like to do the same on my property. All living fences. Hazels and willow do well here in the mountains of Tennessee. Love your videos! Thank you! Peace and joy💙🌎✌
I love your hedgerow idea! Very creative! We're trying to create an edible hedge along our privacy fence because the fence itself just doesn't create enough privacy due to how close our houses are. We also recently moved all of our compost stalls, which was a major undertaking. But after watching that space overtime I realized that it was a great planting location. We moved the infrastructure to a less desirable (and more shady) area that I just can't plant much in. This video was serendipitous, so thank you. I'll try to have less anxiety about moving plants around when necessary. : )
You could always try to plant a service berry bush that can be pruned into a hedge and produces berries tasting similar to blueberries harvested normally around June to August. Another great plant can be mini kiwis as well as siberian pee tree which is a good nitrogen fixer and windbreak.
I like the idea! I planted hedgerows last year. A mix of 14 different plants. And a total of about a 100 meters. They're stil very young and small but I'm looking forward to the end result. Buzzing with bees, lots of birds and flowers. And as a bonus my horses van wat the exces.
The only constant in life is change and this applies even more to a garden (of any type). Embracing change is the best way to set up your garden and your life for success. Plenty of valid points you brought up in this video. Good luck with your hedgerow.
Great idea! A good time to make that transition too! Have you thought of adding Hawthorne to your Hedgerow? It's traditionally used as a hedgerow plant, feeds the wildlife as well as being a staple medicinal plant. They are fairly fast growing too. You made some really good points about change and design to ponder. Another great video! Thanks!
I love the idea of a hedgerow, but it's hard to visualize how you plan to do it without a graphic. My original plan for my fruit trees is not working for me now that I'm older, but I'm also not able to move them. As many of them are trees that I have grown from seed because I loved the fruit, I don't want to cut them down. I may, however, move my path up the hill to put it in the shade so that I have more open sunny area for veggies. I didn't have much of a harvest this year because of the drought and lack of heat, but I have been doing small batch canning of jam from my grape vine and foraged blackberries plus I made some applesauce from my Spitzenberg apple tree and it was fresh and so delish! Hopefully, we will get more rain this year in California so I can make more preserves.
I live on a small farm with some very well established hedges - my parents transplanted a bunch of hawthorn seedlings so they were evenly spaced along fences, and nature did the rest. 40 years later the hedges are dense, thick and alive with birds most of the time. They also have some wild plum, snowberry, wild rose, willow a couple of wild apples, and some blackberry. My mum laid one small hedge with the help of an older neighbour from Cornwall (I can't remember what they used - but it wasn't thorny, lol...it was a LOT of work. It definitely works - that is now a solid wall of living bush, but considering it's about 10 ft long and must have taken them a couple of weeks to do, I'm glad they didn't try to do a whole fenceline. I think it's a great idea for your short piece of fence though - and once done, will be pretty much maintenance free.
This will be fascinating! Years back, I built a simple hedgerow along the road, and as it matured, it transformed the way we use our property. Now I'm thinking about building another along the property line perpendicular to the road...through a field with very sparse grass on sand and gravel fill, basically the worst soil ever. Looking forward to watching you proceed; I think it's a great idea! Bring back the hedgerow!!
The hedge row is a fabulous idea. I would love one however am only working with about 200 square feet of space. Trying to cram in as much as possible. Have a voluntary grape and passionfruit so limiting their growth a bit and waiting to see what the fruit are like. As we are now in spring I am about to transplant my baby blackberry, raspberry and currant bush. Really like your channel and the information you impart.
A few years back we did a mini hedgerow of apple varieties at my son's suggestion. I'm not sure it went according to plan, however the apples produce enough fruit that my daughter and I did a full day of canning from what we estimated as 35-40 gallons of apples. I'm still working on the organic way to stop the apples from being infested with the apple maggots. I may look into some form of this to block the view of a more utilitarian area of the garden. Any thoughts on the type of plants that I can keep "narrow" enough to work in that way? Thanks for the mental reinforcement.
I LOVE the idea of a hedgerow. Also, are there plants that you do not chop and drop? Is there a video on the fundementals of chop and drop as well as the benefits? Thanks in advance. Have a wonderful week!
Angela, you are referring to zones in a manner I am not familiar with...zone 1 in a Portland garden? Are you meaning that a zone 1 in your garden is an area you rarely use? And a zone 5 is an area used very often, even several times per day. Please correct or confirm my assumption. I just found you today and have subscribed, you have so much interesting and valuable information I will be bingeing on all of your past vids and going forward with you. I am in Springfield (Oregon) and have many of the same issues such as unused areas from a compound # of issues, neighbors' trees shading much of my back yard and along a fence where a neighbor planted Bamboo but now he has been unable to eradicate it. Unfortunately I am not able to contribute to your Patreon acct. I live very modestly since breast cancer 4 yrs ago but am now well and would love to plant, plant and plant some more. I follow Jim and Tuck in NJ, Laura of Garden Answer and a few more...all different styles of gardening and now Parkrose Permaculture. I am eager to lap up all of your tips and apply what I can. I have bought only 2 plants for my yard...15 yrs ago, so the remaining 98% are from different free sources. I hope you realize I am similar to "your people/subs" and look forward to joining your community if I can. Oooooo I am so excited. I keep wanting my garden space to be extra large but it's itty bitty, 450 front, 500 back and 300 side. A full 1,250 including grass. Your idea of a slanted hedge row is different but it could suffice if your neighbor pulls out the fencing...what an interesting concept.
Will the hedgerow need to be pruned on the side next to the fence? How will you do that? I have a similar situation and it is a prickly very difficult prune when the plants start pushing against my neighbors fence.
Have you thought about eleagnus? Maybe you have some, haha. You have so many species i cant keep track... but im making kind of a hedge row with them! In my chicken coop, so that passing by, people don’t throw in their scraps 🙄
This plant can be very invasive, depending on your locality. We are in the foothills of Colorado and have several on our property - the birds love them and because it is dry most of the year and quite cold in the winters, they have not spread at all. In fact, our poor soil and general climate makes it possible to grow some other plants that could get out of hand, but don't here. Which is nice. Everyone needs to research their local conditions, even microclimates within their space before purchasing plants. Of course, we have a lawn basically consisting of "weeds", but that is fine as they provide lots of nectar for bees and seeds for the birds in the fall.
when we think about changing our garden to work for us, shouldn't we first consider how it benefits the other plants in our system? Maybe I'm too rigid in my thinking but isn't part of permaculture rooted in letting the system thrive? Like, isn't it more than just what we want, but how the ecosystem works together?
Blessings to all!
I love the idea of a hedgerow. Inspiration and goals.
This video was great! I love the idea of living structures. I think it’s important as designers to always keep in mind that a design doesn’t need to be or isn’t static. Look to nature, remember the stages of session. Do ecosystems remain as they are forever? They are always change growing into new things. I think one more very important thing to come out of looking at design this way is that it’s ok not to get it right. It’s ok to have somethings not work and even when you are designing to allow yourself to not have all the right answers.
I always tell my clients that a permaculture design is like a business plan. It should shift and grow as it is implemented and as it grows.
What a lovely idea! Never too late to implement good design!! Love that! I have so much shade and wish I was more confident in my knowledge and ideas as the best way to use my space. Thanks for your great videos!
Definitely makes sense to me to make changes to make your space work family for your family's needs. We have an area that we're about to do this on, though it's a zone 1 spot.
Zombie Apocalypse food. love it! I have the same backup in my garden because you just never know right! Love your videos, thanks for making them.
This video is perfect timing, as I'm also planning a hedge row for the back perimeter of our yard. It isn't much more than a privacy fence with some scattered sword ferns at the moment, but I bought several small to large native shrubs from the Sparrowhawk sale to get it started. Things like tall Oregon grape, golden currant, flowering red currant, thimbleberry, etc. I'm moving a salmonberry from the front yard to the back fence for the hedge row as well. Part of the fence borders the chicken and duck run so it has to be able to survive the birds. LOL. I hadn't considered including small fruit trees since the main goal was creating more wildlife food and habitat, but maybe I will now. ;)
Terrible tasting zombie apocalypse food. 😂
Absolutely LOVE the idea of a living hedgerow! I’m eyeing my 1/8th acre now and wondering where I can put a hedgerow of diverse plantings.
Feel so lucky that your Permaculture Homestead is in a nearby area so l that what you say is immediately applicable to me in choosing things to put in in this area which is new for me.
When I moved into my home, I planted a group of chestnut seedlings close together wanting to grow big nut trees in my front yard. On the recommendation of a friend, I just planted some grocery store nuts, because I was broke and impatient, but knew I wanted chestnut trees. The variety I unwittingly planted were Colossal nuts, which I did not know, is a pollen sterile tree. I planted three trees to insure pollination, but none of these trees produce pollen. They have been used mostly as coppice or pollard for wood, with only rare occasional nuts. This has been a disaster for nut production.
Last fall, I planted one chestnut named variety seeding near the Colossal, and will be planting another this fall, and trying to get a named variety from a nursery in spring to plant a third in my front yard for nut production. As the younger trees grow, I will be keeping the Colossal for pollarding, and getting some nuts, these trees nuts are bland, but edible, and will be abundant once the new trees put out pollen. The larger the new trees grow, the more intensively I will prune the Colossal until its a small coppice or gone.
The reason I want to remove the Colossal, is because I don't want the pollen sterile genetics in the nuts I grow, and I don't want more pollen sterile chestnuts in the world. I want the squirrels, any foragers who spot my trees, or anyone I give nuts or trees to, to have nuts from trees that will pollinate going forward should any be planted. As my new chestnuts take over, I will be propagating a lot of small fruit trees I have in that area to move them without having to dig them up. I will be starting that process next spring.
Big changes that move slowly are less overwhelming, but they do require planning and patience.
I love hedgerows, but usually laid hedges are not placed against fences, because they are grown to be the fences. My own fences caused me to decide against hedgelaying in favour of a mixed shrub/small tree food forest hedge on my fence lines. Check out the FB group Coppicing, Pollarding, and Hedgelaying North America, there are some knowledgeable hedge layers there.
Gee I was going to suggest a hedgerow when you said. Great minds think a like. 😆
I love the idea of a hedgerow! I would like to do the same on my property. All living fences. Hazels and willow do well here in the mountains of Tennessee. Love your videos! Thank you! Peace and joy💙🌎✌
I love your hedgerow idea! Very creative! We're trying to create an edible hedge along our privacy fence because the fence itself just doesn't create enough privacy due to how close our houses are. We also recently moved all of our compost stalls, which was a major undertaking. But after watching that space overtime I realized that it was a great planting location. We moved the infrastructure to a less desirable (and more shady) area that I just can't plant much in. This video was serendipitous, so thank you. I'll try to have less anxiety about moving plants around when necessary. : )
You could always try to plant a service berry bush that can be pruned into a hedge and produces berries tasting similar to blueberries harvested normally around June to August. Another great plant can be mini kiwis as well as siberian pee tree which is a good nitrogen fixer and windbreak.
I like the idea! I planted hedgerows last year. A mix of 14 different plants. And a total of about a 100 meters. They're stil very young and small but I'm looking forward to the end result. Buzzing with bees, lots of birds and flowers.
And as a bonus my horses van wat the exces.
wow, impressive I am looking forward to seeing this project.
The only constant in life is change and this applies even more to a garden (of any type). Embracing change is the best way to set up your garden and your life for success.
Plenty of valid points you brought up in this video. Good luck with your hedgerow.
Great idea! A good time to make that transition too! Have you thought of adding Hawthorne to your Hedgerow? It's traditionally used as a hedgerow plant, feeds the wildlife as well as being a staple medicinal plant. They are fairly fast growing too. You made some really good points about change and design to ponder. Another great video! Thanks!
I like your idea!
I love the idea of a hedgerow, but it's hard to visualize how you plan to do it without a graphic. My original plan for my fruit trees is not working for me now that I'm older, but I'm also not able to move them. As many of them are trees that I have grown from seed because I loved the fruit, I don't want to cut them down. I may, however, move my path up the hill to put it in the shade so that I have more open sunny area for veggies. I didn't have much of a harvest this year because of the drought and lack of heat, but I have been doing small batch canning of jam from my grape vine and foraged blackberries plus I made some applesauce from my Spitzenberg apple tree and it was fresh and so delish! Hopefully, we will get more rain this year in California so I can make more preserves.
I live on a small farm with some very well established hedges - my parents transplanted a bunch of hawthorn seedlings so they were evenly spaced along fences, and nature did the rest. 40 years later the hedges are dense, thick and alive with birds most of the time. They also have some wild plum, snowberry, wild rose, willow a couple of wild apples, and some blackberry. My mum laid one small hedge with the help of an older neighbour from Cornwall (I can't remember what they used - but it wasn't thorny, lol...it was a LOT of work. It definitely works - that is now a solid wall of living bush, but considering it's about 10 ft long and must have taken them a couple of weeks to do, I'm glad they didn't try to do a whole fenceline. I think it's a great idea for your short piece of fence though - and once done, will be pretty much maintenance free.
This will be fascinating! Years back, I built a simple hedgerow along the road, and as it matured, it transformed the way we use our property. Now I'm thinking about building another along the property line perpendicular to the road...through a field with very sparse grass on sand and gravel fill, basically the worst soil ever. Looking forward to watching you proceed; I think it's a great idea! Bring back the hedgerow!!
The hedge row is a fabulous idea.
I would love one however am only working with about 200 square feet of space. Trying to cram in as much as possible. Have a voluntary grape and passionfruit so limiting their growth a bit and waiting to see what the fruit are like. As we are now in spring I am about to transplant my baby blackberry, raspberry and currant bush.
Really like your channel and the information you impart.
A few years back we did a mini hedgerow of apple varieties at my son's suggestion. I'm not sure it went according to plan, however the apples produce enough fruit that my daughter and I did a full day of canning from what we estimated as 35-40 gallons of apples. I'm still working on the organic way to stop the apples from being infested with the apple maggots. I may look into some form of this to block the view of a more utilitarian area of the garden. Any thoughts on the type of plants that I can keep "narrow" enough to work in that way? Thanks for the mental reinforcement.
I LOVE the idea of a hedgerow. Also, are there plants that you do not chop and drop? Is there a video on the fundementals of chop and drop as well as the benefits? Thanks in advance. Have a wonderful week!
Angela, you are referring to zones in a manner I am not familiar with...zone 1 in a Portland garden? Are you meaning that a zone 1 in your garden is an area you rarely use? And a zone 5 is an area used very often, even several times per day. Please correct or confirm my assumption. I just found you today and have subscribed, you have so much interesting and valuable information I will be bingeing on all of your past vids and going forward with you. I am in Springfield (Oregon) and have many of the same issues such as unused areas from a compound # of issues, neighbors' trees shading much of my back yard and along a fence where a neighbor planted Bamboo but now he has been unable to eradicate it. Unfortunately I am not able to contribute to your Patreon acct. I live very modestly since breast cancer 4 yrs ago but am now well and would love to plant, plant and plant some more. I follow Jim and Tuck in NJ, Laura of Garden Answer and a few more...all different styles of gardening and now Parkrose Permaculture. I am eager to lap up all of your tips and apply what I can. I have bought only 2 plants for my yard...15 yrs ago, so the remaining 98% are from different free sources. I hope you realize I am similar to "your people/subs" and look forward to joining your community if I can. Oooooo I am so excited. I keep wanting my garden space to be extra large but it's itty bitty, 450 front, 500 back and 300 side. A full 1,250 including grass.
Your idea of a slanted hedge row is different but it could suffice if your neighbor pulls out the fencing...what an interesting concept.
Will the hedgerow need to be pruned on the side next to the fence? How will you do that? I have a similar situation and it is a prickly very difficult prune when the plants start pushing against my neighbors fence.
Have you thought about eleagnus? Maybe you have some, haha. You have so many species i cant keep track... but im making kind of a hedge row with them! In my chicken coop, so that passing by, people don’t throw in their scraps 🙄
This plant can be very invasive, depending on your locality. We are in the foothills of Colorado and have several on our property - the birds love them and because it is dry most of the year and quite cold in the winters, they have not spread at all. In fact, our poor soil and general climate makes it possible to grow some other plants that could get out of hand, but don't here. Which is nice. Everyone needs to research their local conditions, even microclimates within their space before purchasing plants. Of course, we have a lawn basically consisting of "weeds", but that is fine as they provide lots of nectar for bees and seeds for the birds in the fall.
when we think about changing our garden to work for us, shouldn't we first consider how it benefits the other plants in our system? Maybe I'm too rigid in my thinking but isn't part of permaculture rooted in letting the system thrive? Like, isn't it more than just what we want, but how the ecosystem works together?
I like your idea!