Hawthorn hedge

We are moving into a new property soon with a much bigger garden-yay!
Along one boundary is an established hawthorn hedge. It seems in fairly good nick, but is a little open at the bottom.
Not sure it needs laying, and that seems to more suit stock keeping anyway.
I was hoping to plant a few new hawthorns to bush it out some, and thought the pinker flowered ones would be a nice addition.
But, i can't imagine the soil below the hedge would be very easy to plant in? Dry and full of roots? Can it be done?
Thanks for any tips

 

Difficult one that, you could water it up & use a power tool to loosen the soil, but you risk disturbing the roots of the existing hedge. Layering ( not laying ) the existing one might work, or planting seeds. You would need to scarify the seed to break the hard case, either that or eat them & .... no i'm not going there.:o

 

Is there a field on the other side of the hedge? I have hawthorn on two sides of my garden. Very old hedging and I wouldn't dream of taking it out as I'd end up with cattle joining me in my garden I have planted in front it of now and it isn't seen much but before my shrubs matured I took cuttings of laurel (tough as old boots) and planted it every so often at the roots. It filled it out quite nicely and of course gives evergreen interest. A lot of the farms round here don't cut the hedges any more and there are some spectacular pink trees around. Mixed in with the white it looks lovely. I think hawthorn slips quite easily so you could go for a walk in the country lanes when it is in flower with a pair of secateurs for company.:wink:

 

Thanks guys
Definitely laying I'm thinking of ziggy http://www.hedgelaying.org.uk/
Planting seeds is a good idea-hadn't thought of that.
No fields or animals rhyleysgranny, it's in the middle of an estate! Slipping looks interesting-I'll investigate that