Orchard Hedge Laying. Revisited

You may remember back in March I was doing some hedge laying.  Back then it looked as though we had killed the hedge, although we knew we had not as this is something that has been done for centuries in the English landscape. As I said back then the hedge would soon start shooting and shoot it did and is now a full hedge.

Here are some photographs showing a comparison of then and now:

Orchard Hedge Laying. Part 2

The week's hedge laying is complete. We haven't laid the whole length of the hedge because the sap is rising and birds are looking to nest, now it's time to wait until autumn to do the rest. A team of people tackled the good hedge, a thick well grown row of hawthorn, myself and a young chap took on a straggly mess of twisted bushes, big gaps and weedy sticks of hedge with a large willow in it blocking the light and drinking the water.

Here are some photographs of the finished job:

Billhooks and other tools

Hedge laying has a specialist range of tools designed to the job well. These tools, like hedge laying styles, very in design around the country and from blacksmith to blacksmith. Here are some photos of the tools we used to lay a hawthorn hedge this week.

Some hedge laying tools

Orchard Hedge Laying. Part 1

A couple of posts ago I was talking about the sloe bush, blackthorn, this week is very much about it’s sister the May bush, hawthorn.  I will talk about May blossom and haws in May and autumn but now is the last chance to work with the May hedges before the sap has risen and the birds have nested. This week is hedge laying week in the orchard.

Hedge laying differs around the country and to suit the purpose of the hedge, here at the orchard we are using Midland Bullock because it is the local style and the hedge being laid is serving the correct purpose.  A Midland Bullock has a clean edge on one side and the brush (bushy tops of the thorn bushes) pointing outwards on the other; the side with the brush is the side where you keep your animals and the other side are your plant crops, paths or roads. Doing this prevents animals eating the new young shoots that will soon appear on the laid hedge. 

Photographs of the first day