ronbre
Cool Member
Posts: 91
Joined: Sun May 16, 2010 7:34 pm
Location: Michigan

would like some suggestions on a hedgerow

we have a shared property line on our west with a neighbor. They are planting on their side a lot of mixed evergreens, spruce, hemlock, pine, etc in a zig zag pattern along the fence. This is going to all be WEST of me which will make a great windbreak as it grows up..and it will likely touch or hang over our 42" high picket fence when it is full grown.

right now I have been TRYING to plant things along my side of the fence there for years..but it was harsh windy area and things just died. There are a couple scraggly white pines still alive on the south end of this seciton of fence..(about a 100 ' long section here)..and 20' east of this is my food forest garden that I've been working on, North is woods.

I do plan to keep a corridor wide enough along this area to get a tractor and truck through and as a deer run.

my west border of my food forest so far has some wild plum, blackberry, raspberry and sweet chestnut babies, along a second layer of picket fencing..there is 20' of weedy lawn trail between the two picket fences.

I would like to have some plants on MY side of the fence, but they will have to be plants that will withstand the eventual shade from the west of the evergreens and some on the south from the few white pines that are there (if they survive).

this is a sandy kind of soil that is not improved at all, and there are a few wild raspberries that come up along the fenceline.

I had thought about possibly some moutain ash, service berry, buffalo berry, paw paw, hawthorne, goumi and maybe other members of that family like russian or autumn olive..but would they withstand the shade that the pines will eventually cast from the west?

I really would appreciate input on this as I would like to get some planting done fairly soon there so it has a chance to grow..thanks.

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I tend to think in terms of Native Plants :wink:

Sandy, West+some South shade immediately made me think blueberries and huckleberries, native plum and elderberries, perhaps pawpaw. Consider some edible Viburnums (are you far enough north for V. edule? -- supposed to be the BEST tasting of them all). Crabapple or Serviceberry or Juneberry would work too.

For N-fixer, Cercis canadensis Redbud (edible flowers) and Northern Bayberry might be a good choice. Also Ceanothus americanus New Jersey Tea. If the area is open for now and you have the room, Kentucky Coffee tree? (not sure if its hardy to your zone, but I'll mention it because I'd LOVE to have one but have no room here 8))

For groundcover and vine, I like Fragaria virginiana Wild Strawberries (DELICIOUS!) and Parthenocissus quinquefolia Virginia Creeper (not edible but great wildlife value).

If there's a moist area (or create one by making a depression/swale) definitely Matteuccia struthiopteris Ostrich Ferns for the edible spring shoots.

Few others I have hovering on the edge of my thoughts -- I'll post if I can coax them out. :D

ronbre
Cool Member
Posts: 91
Joined: Sun May 16, 2010 7:34 pm
Location: Michigan

applestar you are thinking right along the lines of my ways of thought as well..I already have a wild plum and a blueberry hedge in the forest garden that is to the east of this area about 20'..so those are there..but I was thinking of this as a possibility.

one mountain ash with 2 goumi on each side (4 total) and then on the outsides of those 2 service berries, one on each side..then north of that maybe a buffalo berry and then a paw paw, and to the south of all of it a hawthorne and then another paw paw.

I also had thought of the underplanting of strawberries and maybe some other shade tolerant divisions of perennials from my other gardens.

I have the above trees all on order, also have 2 elderberries coming but I was thinking that this area might be way too dry for elderberries as it is very sandy.

I had had other plans for the above plants when I ordered them, but that was before the neighbors came up from detroit with all the huge evergreen trees and planted them along the fenceline..then I got to thinking ..maybe putting those plants that I had ordered along my picket fence east of those evergreens might be a better use for them than my previous plans...thanks for your response

2cents
Green Thumb
Posts: 616
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:04 am
Location: Ohio

I once saw a large juniper row in a similar site, maybe 50 feet long, only 4-6 plants. they had grown together to form a solid wall of blue evergreen. They were a blue-white variety. They grew to 10 feet tall, were a thick wind break, seasoned well in the shade and was a great place for all the birdies to nest.

ronbre
Cool Member
Posts: 91
Joined: Sun May 16, 2010 7:34 pm
Location: Michigan

thanks, as I said, my neighbors have already planted the windbreak along my fenceline of evergreens, so I'm not needing the evergreens..but that was good information



Return to “Permaculture Forum”