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:

Elderflower Champagne

The elderflowers are here but going soon so don't miss this opportunity to make a this refreshing and fun summer drink.

Elder flowers in Wilsons' Orchard

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

Pussy Willow

The warmer days with their misty mornings and sunny afternoons have woken the pussy willow and now the little furry catkins (the male flowers) are bursting out of their buds.

Pussy Willow catkins, March 2012

First Spring Blossoms and Winter Warmers

Early March may seem an odd time to be thinking of mid-winter but now is the time to pay special attention to hedgerows if you want to make an excellent traditional English winter drink; sloe gin.  The urban lifestyle is very instant, nip to the supermarket for anything you want but the rural mindset takes a longer view on things, we like to plan ahead and let things mature. Seeing the white blossom in a hedgerow in March is just such an example.

Today I woke before the dawn chorus, a fishing trip to a stretch of a brook where I have not fished in years was this morning's plan by invitation of my brother.  On my travels I noticed many of the blackthorn bushes in the hedgerows were in blossom, the leafless branches covered in white flowers like a blanket of fluffy snow. Their neighbours, the hawthorns, are not quite showing their leaves. This is an important difference between the two; the sloe bush flowers at the start of spring without leaves and the May bush flowers at the end of spring with leaves. Both of these traditional hedgerow bushes produce fruit that can be eaten but it is the sloe from the blackthorn that makes the boozy drink; sloe gin.

Blackthorn blossoms, 10th March 2012

Sloes should not be harvested until after the first frosts have hit and ripened them up, however each year it is a gamble as to whether the birds or your neighbour will have got to the fruit before you.  If you see your favourite bush being devoured by birds you best take a chance and pick some yourself! This is why we pay attention now, it is so much easier to spot a white blossom in the hedge when all the other trees and bushes are still waking up than look for the small blue dusty berries when everything is in full leaf.

To see the blossom lifts the spirits (quite literally come winter!) because spring has truly arrived, the winter snowdrops and cold loving crocus are nearing their end, now that explosion of flowers and green is only just around the corner. Winter clothes can be put away for another 6 or 7 months, we don't need them again until the sloes are ready.

How to make Sloe Gin