Hedgerow - Yet Another Update
Maybe it's something primeval, the need to secure a growing space with a hedge. The Secretary Formerly Known As Bee Lady has not gotten back to me about more bare root hedging plants. I don't know what the story is there, but must proceed under my own steam for now.
This winter I'll plant the gorse right around the boundary, in a staggered row with gaps to be filled subsequently. Assuming the seedlings don't get waterlogged or dried out over the summer, there are 200, enough for a staggered row 1ft apart around most of the boundary. For the rest, I'm going to buy (yes, I know) blackthorn seeds, and stratify them this winter to plant next winter. Also silver birch, (the first tree I learned to recognise when I was a small child).
Thinking further ahead, maybe several thousand years further ahead, I'm going to stratify yew, (the price of rootballed yew is outrageous - so there's a big profit margin if you have a bit of ground and patience). Holly has a similar stratification schedule to yew, so I may as well start some of them, too. By the time they're ready to plant out, any gaps or weak spots in the hedge will be apparent.
And any other appropriate trees that come my way. I've not given up on figs, for example. But no success with supermarket figs for seeds, yet. Mind, seeds from dried Turkish figs appeared viable, but turned out not to be. And I got maybe 10 seeds from Brazilian figs grown in Israel, which passed the sinking-test, but have not germinated. The latest fig fiasco has been var. "Colar" from Spain, purchased in Sainsbury's, which didn't taste great and yielded not one single seed from the sinking-test.
PS [July 25th] The Turkish dried-fig seeds, and maybe some of the Israelis, have germinated.
This winter I'll plant the gorse right around the boundary, in a staggered row with gaps to be filled subsequently. Assuming the seedlings don't get waterlogged or dried out over the summer, there are 200, enough for a staggered row 1ft apart around most of the boundary. For the rest, I'm going to buy (yes, I know) blackthorn seeds, and stratify them this winter to plant next winter. Also silver birch, (the first tree I learned to recognise when I was a small child).
Thinking further ahead, maybe several thousand years further ahead, I'm going to stratify yew, (the price of rootballed yew is outrageous - so there's a big profit margin if you have a bit of ground and patience). Holly has a similar stratification schedule to yew, so I may as well start some of them, too. By the time they're ready to plant out, any gaps or weak spots in the hedge will be apparent.
And any other appropriate trees that come my way. I've not given up on figs, for example. But no success with supermarket figs for seeds, yet. Mind, seeds from dried Turkish figs appeared viable, but turned out not to be. And I got maybe 10 seeds from Brazilian figs grown in Israel, which passed the sinking-test, but have not germinated. The latest fig fiasco has been var. "Colar" from Spain, purchased in Sainsbury's, which didn't taste great and yielded not one single seed from the sinking-test.
PS [July 25th] The Turkish dried-fig seeds, and maybe some of the Israelis, have germinated.
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