Bramble - am I crazy?

Hi all

I've got a lot of brambles coming up pretty much all over and as nice as the blackberries are, it's really becoming a bit of a nuisance in my already overcrowded and overgrown borders.

Now, I'm trying to establish a traditional hedgerow at the front of my property, with a variety of traditional deciduous hedging plants (hawthorn, hazel, beech, etc). The temptation is to transplant some of the brambles into the hedge. I'm sure they'll compliment the traditional effect I'm hoping to achieve, but quite worried that hey're going to take over and kill off the rest of the hedge, which is still going to take a few years to establish properly.

Thoughts?

Cheers
Rob

 

I think Brambles are a confounded nuisance in a hedge. We have long lengths of old, natural, hedge and we take the brambles out at every opportunity!

 

so maybe the correct answer is to can this idea and rather introduce a more civilised blackberry cultivar once the hedge is established?

 

Rob

Don't do it!

It would be very difficult to make brambles grow in a compact way, which is usually one of the attributes that you want in a hedge plant. They'll send out long, lanky shoots in all directions. They'll dominate the hedge and then the surrounding area.

You'll rue the day you welcomed them into your hedge.....

 

ok, ok... glad to hear that my reservations are indeed well-founded

I shall refrain from sullying my beautiful hedge, although I am looking for something cheap and cheerful I can use to bulk it up with. The beech, in particular, is taking an age to grow!

 

Definately dont it would be a disaster!

To bulk it up consider planting hawthorn or honeysuckle perhaps a few dog roses.

 

hehehe
The only thing to do with brambles is to dig it out
My mother, when she was alive, used to love coming here to pick the blackberries for jam making
But, they do, indeed, take over and become a nuisance
I dig them out at every opportunity

 

Well, there's more than enough of it in the surrounding area for me to get my blackberry fix, for free, off my neighbours

Thanks again for confirming my suspicions.

 

"I am looking for something cheap and cheerful I can use to bulk it up with. The beech, in particular, is taking an age to grow"

I don't think you want to be infilling a new hedge. Sounds like you have a problem to solve though.

Mulch, Water, put weed suppressing membrane along the hedge (to help retain moisture, prevent competition from weeds), I personally would install a leaky-hose and give it a good soaking once a week (NOT little-and-often). I would use Sulphate of Ammonia when the hedge is young, and only early in the season, to encourage growth.

If the hedge is "bare" at the bottom it's probably worth rethinking it - because Beech won't make new growth at the bottom easily.

Was the ground well prepared before planting? How old are the plants? and how tall now? Is it a single or double row? (I think double-row is better for Beech, if space available, as they make quite a "skinny" hedge. What sort of soil? (Hornbeam might be better on heavy land, for example - non-Gardeners will still probably think it is Beech - if that is important?!)

 

ah cool - a hedge discussion! Let's see now.

I planted the hedge just around 18 months ago. I'll need to put some pics up to give you a proper idea of what the situation is, but I'll do that later once I'm home. I prepared the grounds pretty well and planted a single row of bare-rooted plants that I bought online... I think the composition is something like 40% hawthorn, 30% blackthorn and 10% each beech, hazel and field maple. Weeds are a constant problem and I've resorted to laying down thick black plastic sheeting , which seems to help. I haven't done that along the entire row yet, as I've underplanted with some bulbs and things, which look quite nice at the moment.

The hawthorn is growing really well - in fact, just about all of it is growing well except the beech, which takes longer to leaf out and just generally seems sluggish in comparison to the rest of the hedge. Thick growth at the bottom is not really such an issue as I have a 2-foot wall on the outside of the hedge - I only really want the hedge to provide screening above that.

So - I think from a macro prespective, it's actually quite well on track. I'm not a patient person though (which is a terrible trait in a gardener, I know!) So I'm really looking at giving it just a little bit of extra "oomph". I think part of the problem was that the Beech plants I bought were in general a little smaller than the other species to begin with - perhaps they're being crowded out?

I'm toying with the idea of adding a second row to the hedge over the winter anyway - maybe this will solve my problem? I could get a supply of bigger beech and hornbeam (lovely plant!) and put those in...

 

"40% hawthorn, 30% blackthorn and 10% each beech, hazel and field maple"

Sounds nice, and inevitable that the hawthorn is getting cracking faster than the Beech

If it is 18 months old you probably only need to water in dry weather (whether the hedge would grow faster with weekly soaking is a possibility).

Anyway, if you are not doing weekly soaking, how about soaking just the beech? That should help them [and their neighbours, of course :( ]

" I've underplanted with some bulbs and things"

I would assume that the hedge will be 4' wide (2' either side) and I wouldn't plant anything within that 4' zone (they will be smothered when the hedge fills out). If the bulbs are outside the 4' zone then the plastic can be up to 4' wide for weed suppression :thumb:

By the by, plastic won't let the water through, hence weed suppressing fabric (woven plastic mesh) might be a better choice.

" So I'm really looking at giving it just a little bit of extra "oomph""

Sulphate of Ammonia on young hedge should hurry them along ...

"I'm toying with the idea of adding a second row to the hedge over the winter anyway"

I think a double row will make a nicer hedge. However, for a double row I would plant a bit further apart, with the second row diagonally / staggered in-between. Might be a bit tight getting a second row, of bigger, plants in therefore.

I have had hedging from Ashridge trees, and have been very happy wth their advice and the quality of their plants. They do bare root stuff, and I think you should order in good time and plant in November. Here is their 90cm-120cm Mixed hedge - 50% hawthorn and a mix of 5 other varieties

http://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/Conservation-Hedge-Large

they obviously have small plants if the price of biggies is off putting!

 

Taking Brambles from my an's garden was a big mistake, their a nuisance. After a hard graft I've removed them all but some have sprung up under the Conifers - which I'm leaving there as nothing else grows there!

 

Ah man - I really shouldn't have started looking into this! Now I'm inspired to go and buy a whole new bunch of stuff and add it to the hedge. This is going to cost a lot of money :(

Kristen, I assume I can substitute any sort of high Nitrogen fertiliser for the Ammonium Sulphate, right?

 

"I assume I can substitute any sort of high Nitrogen fertiliser for the Ammonium Sulphate, right?"

Yup, I should have phrased it that way