Pruning Young Hedges While Growing to Mature Size Formative pruning of a new hedge is handled differently from trimming a mature hedge. Because you want your new hedge to reach the desired height, the general aim is to remove the tips of the stems all over the plant once a year, maybe twice for vigorous evergreens. Deciduous Hedges Evergreen Broadleaf Hedges Evergreen Conifer… Continue reading Formative Pruning New Hedges
Best Hedges For Shade
Best Hedge Plants for Shade If you look in our Hedging category filtered for Full Shade, you will see mostly evergreen plants, and some tough native plants.Most garden owners are looking for lush evergreens along a visible boundary, but Hornbeam is a good formal choice for shady areas where sun-loving Beech won’t grow well. Best Evergreen Hedge Plants for Shade Special Mention… Continue reading Best Hedges For Shade
How to Trim a Garden Hedge
Trimming a Hedge Means Mature Hedge: Cut off practically all the new growth (less than a year old), in order to keep a mature hedge at the desired size. It’s like shaving back to the same line every time. New Hedge: Cut off the tips of all the shoots, pruning back thin or straggly stems, to maintain bushy growth while… Continue reading How to Trim a Garden Hedge
Cutting Back A Pyracantha Hedge Hard
Pyracantha, like almost any broadleaf, hardwood hedge plant, can be hard pruned as needed to reduce its size and keep it tidy. In this video, we take the opportunity to show training it against a fence as well. You will need a good pair of secateurs, leather gloves, pruning saw or loppers and some garden… Continue reading Cutting Back A Pyracantha Hedge Hard
Double Staggered Row Hedge Planting Distance
Difference between a garden single row hedge, and a double row country hedge? Most garden hedges are planted in a single row, three plants per metre, 33cm apart. This page is about planting distances for a staggered double row with a total of 6 plants per metre. This qualifies for the BN11: Planting New Hedges Grant,… Continue reading Double Staggered Row Hedge Planting Distance
How Many Hedge Plants Per Metre?
The most common spacing between hedge plants is 3 per metre, and most garden hedges are single row. Native country hedges are double row, with 6 plants per metre in total. Hedgerow Planting Density Hedge Spacing Used For Single Row at 2 Plants Per Metre Inside the garden Single Row at 3 Plants Per Metre… Continue reading How Many Hedge Plants Per Metre?
How to Plant Rootballed Yew Hedging
Yew is the King of Hedges for good reason, but it grows steadily rather than vigorously, so a new Yew hedge takes a bit more time to reach the desired size. If it suits your budget, it makes sense to buy large Yew plants delivered with a rootball, rather than bareroot smaller size plants. Spacing Bareroot Vs Rootballed Yew 1.… Continue reading How to Plant Rootballed Yew Hedging
What Is Mulch & Why It’s Important for New Plants
What Does Mulch Do? Mulch covers the soil around a plant in order to: If it is going to be hard to frequently water and weed your new plants after planting, mulch is essential for your plants to thrive.Establishing plants must still be watered, but a good mulch allows you to water less often. Homemade… Continue reading What Is Mulch & Why It’s Important for New Plants
Opening Packs of Spiral Guards
Open rabbit spirals quickly like a pro, smoothly separating rolls out into 5 individual guards Hedge spirals, rabbit guards, are manufactured in rolls of 5, coiled up like springs: the harder you try to pull them apart, the more they grip one another. Unwinding them from the outside takes too long. To pull them apart… Continue reading Opening Packs of Spiral Guards
Watering Newly Planted Trees & Hedging
Proper watering is crucial for all new plants while they are establishing. Watering New Plants Water all new plants deeply and regularly during their first growing season. This includes plants that are drought tolerant: they all need you to water them in Year One. Best Time of Day to Water How often to Water New Plants Frequency varies depending… Continue reading Watering Newly Planted Trees & Hedging
Trimming & Hard Pruning Yew Hedges
Best Time to Trim Yew Hedges To keep a mature yew hedge tidy with only one cut per year, the ideal time is September-October. How to Prune a Yew Hedge You do need to clip yew plants to make them bushy – shortening side branches causes them to produce the twiggy growths that help make a… Continue reading Trimming & Hard Pruning Yew Hedges
Planting A Box Hedge
Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) is a tough little evergreen, one of the relatively few hedge plants that is genuinely happy in shade. Once established, Box survives in dry ground. Box grows slowly and clips very neatly, a perfect choice for a low hedge or living border edging, an ideal subject for topiary. Bareroot box hedge plants are… Continue reading Planting A Box Hedge
Pruning New Fruit Trees
Formative pruning of new, freestanding fruit trees, starts with either unbranched Maidens, or young Bushes or Half Standards with a further year’s branch development. Pruning A Maiden Fruit Tree “Open Centre” These videos apply equally to new fruit trees containing pips like apples and pears, and those containing stones, like plum and cherry, being grown as “ordinary trees”. There are… Continue reading Pruning New Fruit Trees
Pruning Tip Bearing Apple Trees
Most Apples are spur bearing; partial tips are like spurs Most apples and pears are spur bearing: they are pruned “normally”, and are suitable for cordons and espaliers. Partial tip-bearers have spurs too, and are pruned about the same way, a bit less often. Few Apples are true tip bearers Pruning Tip Bearers VS Spur… Continue reading Pruning Tip Bearing Apple Trees
Pruning Plum Trees In The UK
The Best Plum Tree Pruning Videos Plums are vigorous trees and respond well to pruning. If they are not pruned, they quickly get tangled and less productive, often with branches breaking under heavy crops. By watching several big plum growers expertly handle their wood, you can improve your plum wood handling at home. Pruning a… Continue reading Pruning Plum Trees In The UK
What are the Fruit Tree Sizes I Can Order?
Compare Maidens, Bushes & Half-Standard Trees
Growing Cordon Fruit Trees
Cordons are compact wire trained fruit trees, usually apple or pear
Best Cherry Tree Varieties to Grow in the UK
Grow Stella or Lapins, then add Kordia and/or Summer Sun. Morello for shade
How to Choose the Right Pear Trees for Your Garden
Grow Conference, then Comice, then Concorde.
What do Bareroot Trees Look Like?
Bareroot trees look like sticks! Compare standard & sapling sizes
Planting A Small Mixed Orchard
Mixed orchards are the future of home growing
How to Plant A Fruit Tree
Fruit Tree Planting Watch our step-by-step video showing you how to plant bush or half-standard sized fruit tree with a small 120cm tree stake.It applies to any bush or half-standard size fruit tree: apple, pear, cherry, plum, quince, etc. All fruit trees have a graft union where the rootstock is fused to the scion: this union point should be above ground level. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT Hello,… Continue reading How to Plant A Fruit Tree
Building Wire Supports To Grow Fruit On Walls, Fences & Posts
How to start training fruit trees on wires These instructions apply to fixing wires to existing fences or walls for training maiden fruit trees into cordon, espalier, fan, and sometimes “step-over” shapes.Some nurseries sell some of those shapes in a starter form, lashed to a bamboo frame, for reasonables. At Ashridge we stick to the core forms:… Continue reading Building Wire Supports To Grow Fruit On Walls, Fences & Posts
Plant A Formal Garden Hedge Like Beech or Yew
This video on trench planting formal garden hedging applies to all the classic evergreen garden hedge plants: Planting a Garden Hedging: Trench Planting Method TRANSCRIPT Hello and welcome to Ashridge Trees (Nurseries). We’re going to show you how to plant formal garden hedge. We’ve used Yew in this film, but the same procedure can be followed for Beech, Box,… Continue reading Plant A Formal Garden Hedge Like Beech or Yew
Hedgelaying in the UK
Hedgelaying Services & Grants What is Hedgelaying? For those who don’t know, asking a farmer is a sensible place to start: Hedge laying is the art of rejuvenating a hedge to keep it solid and stockproof. How to Lay an English Country Hedge The National Hedgelaying Society has records of over 30 hedgelaying styles, the eleven most common… Continue reading Hedgelaying in the UK
Best Cold Hardy Apple Trees For The North & Scotland
Apple Tree Varieties Suitable for Scotland & the North Apple trees are incredibly hardy, however, their flowers can be damaged in freezing weather, which prevents them from cropping that year. The damage happens when frozen flowers defrost too quickly, so a solution for all but the coldest conditions is to plant your fruit trees against a west facing… Continue reading Best Cold Hardy Apple Trees For The North & Scotland
Best Apple Tree Varieties to Grow in the UK
The British climate makes for ideal apple territory. They like well drained, fertile soil including clay, and with shelter can grow inland at altitudes up to about 900 feet / 275 metres! Apple trees are the largest range of fruit trees we have for sale. Before you buy an apple tree, have a think about which varieties… Continue reading Best Apple Tree Varieties to Grow in the UK
Best fast-growing hedge plants for blocking the neighbour’s view!
If your neighbours are seeing too much for comfort, a mature hedge between you is a fine sight! But growing a privacy hedge in order to block the neighbour’s view requires patience. With these fast-growing species, your hedge will be towering tall as quickly as possible. The High Hedges Act Applies to any hedge over… Continue reading Best fast-growing hedge plants for blocking the neighbour’s view!
Planting A Bareroot Native Hedge
Plant Mixed Native Country Hedging in Winter The bareroot planting season is from November to March, for most of the UK, usually into April in Scotland. Slit /Slot Planting Method: Video This film applies to all the mixed country hedge plants, which are planted bareroot in winter. TRANSCRIPT Hello and welcome to Ashridge Trees (Nurseries). This film… Continue reading Planting A Bareroot Native Hedge
Pear Tree Pollination Groups Chart UK
Choosing Pollination Partners for Pear Trees Use our easy pollination checking tool to quickly find pollination partners for a given pear tree, or browse the table below. To make fruit, most pear trees need to be cross-pollinated with another variety that is in flower at the same time; even self-fertile varieties produce better crops with a partner. Pollination… Continue reading Pear Tree Pollination Groups Chart UK