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Hedge Laying.......

B

BmxArgh

Slightly Talkative
Messages
23
Points
90
Age
54
Got that land, used that axe!
Laid a section of hedge as starting to secure gaps in fence and hedge. Not done it before, bloody hard graft!!!! Sweaty!!
The section was about 15' long. Probably the biggest section I'll need to do. Hedge is about 4-5' tall and about 2' thick now. Should become good and strong as develops. Put about four uprights in with hook overs for steadying in wind from off cuts. All of it's 3/4 way cut through and bent from the left hedge/tree on the left which I was half way up at times due to it being so tall and interwoven making it more difficult to sort.
The wooded half to three quarter acre behind is for me and the lad to camp and bushcraft while there is another 6 or so acres of open land and some trees to the left that will be for the horses. Pretty knackered but stoked, more work to do.
I'm stood on the dirt track that runs alongside the land which is the other side of the fence. There's a stream too and bluebells coming in the wooded bit.

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Excellent job BMX and all natural too.
Hope you and the lad have some great camp outs in there:thumbsup:
Have you much work to do......or planed......will you and your boy put up some sort of permanent shelter at some point or tent and tarp?
Bonus having the stream running through.

Good luck and keep the updates and photos coming:thumbsup:
 
BmxArgh said:
Got that land, used that axe!
Laid a section of hedge as starting to secure gaps in fence and hedge. Not done it before, bloody hard graft!!!! Sweaty!!
The section was about 15' long. Probably the biggest section I'll need to do. Hedge is about 4-5' tall and about 2' thick now. Should become good and strong as develops. Put about four uprights in with hook overs for steadying in wind from off cuts. All of it's 3/4 way cut through and bent from the left hedge/tree on the left which I was half way up at times due to it being so tall and interwoven making it more difficult to sort.
The wooded half to three quarter acre behind is for me and the lad to camp and bushcraft while there is another 6 or so acres of open land and some trees to the left that will be for the horses. Pretty knackered but stoked, more work to do.
I'm stood on the dirt track that runs alongside the land which is the other side of the fence. There's a stream too and bluebells coming in the wooded bit.

View attachment 13617
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You've done a very nice job there mate, yes it can be hard dusty dirty work but the end result speaks for its self
 
Tarp first of all. Possibly still hammocks.....
Now am going down have ideas of permenant shelter or raised platform/low treehouse just big enough to sleep two and sit in....
Plan to plant some more trees I think, not that I'll ever need to worry on wood for the burner at home again but maybe some Birch on the dirt track hedge side to make a little more private and because I love the look of its trunk and bark. Also thinking of expanding the wooded area just a little bit into the open field with maybe some fast growing super willow as it can be cut to stump and has good regrowth from it with maybe a few Ash trees as also fast growing but great burner.
The very small wooded section is triangular with the stream running all down one side along side a hedge. This runs all the way down one side of the land and gets bigger with a 15-20' waterfall and bridge. Opposite side is the hedge I'm reworking. Then the main open side goes onto our field. So I should be able to secure easily as only really need to sort hedge side I'm working on. The stream side has a small running section you can sit by and make use of but the rest drops away down a big embankment which hedge opposite. Love the sound of running water being there, calming.

Back of down there today to hopefully lay hedge in the smaller open gaps and secure the wooded bit up properly. It's sunny so time for some more graft!



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A beautiful neat piece of work. Banking the soil up like that over some of the pleached branches along the bottom should hopefully force them to send up multiple shoots (suckers). Upward sloping branches will always have a better chance of surviving.
The willow is a great idea, moving ash seedlings around is a bit of a minefield though. Ash die-back is still spreading. As a compromise I would suggest planting birch as nurse trees and then under planting them later.
 
Luckily we've had very little ash wilt up here in the south east
 
My wood in Buckinghamshire has a few ash trees and some are showing early signs of die back. Nothing too serious at the moment so I was advised to leave them for now and monitor them.
I was in the wood this weekend. The sun was shining, blossom on the trees, woodpeckers flying around and the native bluebells we planted in a small glade have started to come up.
Life is good
Clive
 
Chalkflint said:
My wood in Buckinghamshire has a few ash trees and some are showing early signs of die back. Nothing too serious at the moment so I was advised to leave them for now and monitor them.
I was in the wood this weekend. The sun was shining, blossom on the trees, woodpeckers flying around and the native bluebells we planted in a small glade have started to come up.
Life is good
Clive
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All lads who have woodland are so lucky . Down here I'd need a lottery win to get a wood
 
Joecole said:
All lads who have woodland are so lucky . Down here I'd need a lottery win to get a wood
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They're not exactly free in the Wye Valley either. Wherever you go land is only getting more expensive but it's a great investment. A good plan is to buy unimproved land and start with a shelter belt of pine surrounding nurse trees such as aspen, silver birch or downy birch. A long term DIY project.
 
Ystranc said:
They're not exactly free in the Wye Valley either. Wherever you go land is only getting more expensive but it's a great investment. A good plan is to buy unimproved land and start with a shelter belt of pine surrounding nurse trees such as aspen, silver birch or downy birch. A long term DIY project.
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Probably to long a project at my time of life, I have a little permission I use from time to time but there's a limit to what I can do there
 
I know what you mean about land getting expensive. If you look at the specialist woodland companies the prices are eye watering. They buy up large woods and break them down into smaller 3-5 acre plots and sell them at £10K+ per acre. They tend to spend money developing them by adding tracks into them etc so they appeal to families etc.
Mine was bought through a more traditional agricultural agent and so I got more land for my money.
Like Ystranc mentioned it can be a good investment for financial return, but I think the best investment is the quality time you spend up there with family and friends.

Clive
 
I'll try and take some photos of an area that I've been on with for the last ten years, it's been planted in stages. There was an existing shelter belt of Scots pine and maratime pine that were beginning to come down. This has been under planted with aspen and silver birch, further down the slope there is a mix of hazel, oak, beech, hornbeam downy birch, ash (before die back) and sycamore...even one ore two walnuts. The adjacent field has just had 500 birch and 350 oak planted early this year.
 
Chalkflint said:
I know what you mean about land getting expensive. If you look at the specialist woodland companies the prices are eye watering. They buy up large woods and break them down into smaller 3-5 acre plots and sell them at £10K+ per acre. They tend to spend money developing them by adding tracks into them etc so they appeal to families etc.
Mine was bought through a more traditional agricultural agent and so I got more land for my money.
Like Ystranc mentioned it can be a good investment for financial return, but I think the best investment is the quality time you spend up there with family and friends.

Clive
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I agree Clive, I love the woods and believe it or not I write poetry and a nice shady place under a tree is the perfect place to do it
 
Nice bit of hedge laying. I've done some and yes it hard work although it seems increasingly more common to replace axes and bill hooks with chainsaws .
On the issue of ash die off there is some evidence pointing towards biochar having an impact. It probably needs more scientific examination but worth a read at least.
Biochar Found to Suppress Ash Dieback
 
Funnily enough I found the partners grandads bill hook today, new I'd seen one!
Unfortunately I was rushed and it's very rusty so didn't get a good enough edge on it for working with today so it was axe and knife again. Smaller sections though and yes hard work. Arms are done but in that good way where it aches but you feel like you've achieved something.
To be honest it's not been great timings and I'll be leaving it now until September'ish when it's ready to get hacked at again but what I've done should make it easier and better.
As for land I honestly and with all humility can't express how lucky we have been. It's not cheap and is only due to the loss of my partners mother a few years back, her level head and investment made by her in buying and renting a house out alongside her sister this has been made possible.
Me I'm just an old punk who has always been a bit rubbish money wise but when it comes to being outside and grafting I'm pretty good at throwing it together.

Was sizing up four squared of trees today for a platform, almost perfect
Badgers are rife from the looks of round the little wooded section and what the left behind by the stream too lol.
 
you're very lucky my day has consisted of repairing mother in laws summerhouse and mowing her lawns (over a hundred years by 30) in total then in the greenhouses because we are self sufficient in veg. Then back to my own garden to build a two layer brick wall round a flower bed and mow another bloody lawn
 
Best time for hedging is while the wood is still dormant over winter but not too long before the buds start to open. Once the blackthorn blossoms start to form the time for hedgeing is over. It's a pretty short window of opportunity.
 
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