Why a hedge beats a fence

A hedge is the hardest-working feature in a wildlife garden. Where a fence gives you a boundary and very little else, a mixed native hedge offers berries, nectar, nesting cover and a sheltered corridor that insects, birds and small mammals can move along in safety. It slows the wind, softens noise and, once it is established, asks far less of you than most gardeners expect. Even a modest run of six to ten metres along a boundary will start paying you back within three or four years.

The trick is to plant it as a mixture rather than a single species. Different shrubs flower and fruit at different times, so a mixed hedge feeds insects from spring through to autumn and keeps birds in berries well into winter.

Choosing the right native shrubs

Aim for five to seven species, with at least one that holds its leaves in winter and one that berries late. All of the following are native or long-naturalised in Britain and will cope with ordinary garden soil.

• Hawthorn — the backbone of any native hedge; dense, thorny, superb for nesting birds and hundreds of moth species.
• Blackthorn — early white blossom for pollinators, sloes in autumn, and the food plant of the brown hairstreak butterfly.
• Hazel — good for caterpillars and for the dormice and squirrels that raid the nuts.
• Field maple — excellent autumn colour and a favourite of aphid-hunting birds.
• Holly — evergreen cover and reliable winter berries on female plants.
• Guelder rose — frothy white flowers, translucent red berries and rich autumn foliage.
• Dog rose and dogwood — hips, black berries and open, informal structure.
• Elder and crab apple — quick to establish, generous with flowers and fruit.

Include one or two thorns. They are what make a hedge feel safe to a nesting dunnock or robin.

Planting bare-root in the dormant season

Bare-root plants are cheap, establish quickly and are best put in between November and early March, whenever the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. Space them 30–45cm apart in a staggered double row, or roughly five plants per metre in a single row. Two rows give a much denser, more windproof hedge for very little extra cost.

Clear perennial weeds first, then dig a trench about 45cm wide and a spade deep. Fork the base to break up any pan, and work in a couple of buckets of well-rotted garden compost. Set the plants at the same depth they were growing before, firm them in with your heel, and water thoroughly. Mulch the whole strip with bark chippings, keeping it clear of the stems, and fit spiral guards if rabbits or deer visit. Then cut every plant back by about a third. It feels brutal, but it forces strong growth from the base and saves you a thin, leggy hedge later.

Hedges on damp and brookside ground

If your garden runs down to a brook, ditch or pond edge, choose species that welcome wet feet. Alder buckthorn, willow, dogwood, guelder rose and bird cherry all thrive in damp soil and will knit a hedge into the waterside beautifully. Alder buckthorn is worth seeking out — it is the food plant of the brimstone butterfly, and its berries feed thrushes in autumn.

Plant slightly further back from the bank than you might think, so roots do not destabilise the edge and so you can still reach the water. Leave a rough grassy margin between hedge and brook rather than mowing tight to the water; that strip is where frogs, voles and hedgehogs will hunt. Never plant into ground that floods in winter — wait for a drier spell, or plant further up the slope.

Trimming for wildlife, not tidiness

This is where most well-meaning hedges are ruined. The single most important rule is do not cut between March and the end of August, when birds are nesting and the hedge is full of caterpillars. Late winter is ideal: the berries are finished, the nests are empty, and the hedge has time to regrow before spring.

Cut only one side, or one section, each year and leave the rest alone. A hedge trimmed all over annually will flower and berry far less, because you remove the previous year's growth before it can produce anything. Rotating the cuts means there is always somewhere for insects to overwinter and berries for the birds.

Shape the hedge so it is slightly wider at the base than the top — an A-shape rather than a box. Light then reaches the bottom and you avoid the bare, leggy base that plagues closely clipped hedges. Let a few stems grow taller every year and leave them uncut; these flower and fruit most freely and give a natural, loose top that suits a wildlife garden.

Patience, then plenty

For the first two or three summers, keep the base clear of weeds and water young plants during dry spells. After that, a native hedge largely looks after itself. Resist the urge to tidy the leaf litter beneath it, and leave any dead or dying stems in place — they are nesting sites and hibernation quarters. Then simply watch: the flowers in May, the caterpillars in June, the berries in October and the small birds that arrive to strip them. A hedge you plant this winter will still be feeding your garden in fifty years.