Does Your Hedgerow Have What it Takes?

The Ontario Rural Skills Network (ORSN) is on the hunt for a site to host a hedgelaying workshop in partnership with EFAO in late fall 2022.

 

Hedgelaying is the process of rejuvenating a tall, gappy hedgerow by pleaching (partial cutting and laying) of its component trees and shrubs to create a dense living fence and initiate new growth from the base.

 

Over the last few years, there has been a steady growth in interest in the planting and management of traditional European style hedgerows or living fences in North America amongst small scale farmers and homesteaders.

 

Unfortunately, the tall, wide North American hedgerows and fencerows aren’t always suitable for hedgelaying, especially if they contain coniferous species which don’t respond to cutting with regrowth.

 

If you have a hedgerow that will lend itself to hedgelaying and are interesting in hosting a workshop, please contact jimtjones@hotmail.com or cassie@efao.ca. Please read below to determine if your hedgerow has what it takes!

 

What features make a hedgerow suitable for hedgelaying?

 

It’s all about the size, distribution and abundance of stems.

 

Below are pictures of hedgerows in the ideal state for hedgelaying. Trees/shrubs  can be bigger and more widely spaced than this. We have to work with what we’ve got. If in doubt, send us pictures!

Of course, we are planting new hedgerows with the density and pattern that will lend themselves to the hedgerow management cycle. The Hedgerow Co is a start-up business that offers a service to landowners to design and plant their dream traditional ‘European-style’ hedgerows.