Is it too soon for major hedgerow work?

Hi all

This weekend I'd planned to make a start on a garden on my land. I've chosen the spot and decided roughly what I'm going to do, got my cronies on standby etc.

Saturday's job was going to be to chop the tops off the hawthorn trees that form a very overgrown and leggy hedgerow, then lay them.

The trouble is you are really supposed to do this sort of thing when the trees are dormant, which in the northeast should be about now, but the mild weather means they are hanging on a bit longer.

If I proceed as planned will I harm the trees?

 

No ideas?

 

Maybe ask a farmer?

 

I would ask the farmer next door, but he already wears a smug smile when I see him, and I can almost hear him laughing inside at the idea of a towny trying to play farmer

 

Clueless,

wait until the trees are dormant - no leaves.

Have you got planning permission to create a garden on your plot?

 

Well I've done it. To my surprise, for the sake of 100 miles between Sheffield and my land, up north the hawthorns have all lost their leaves. As it happens we didn't do anything too brutal to them, as on inspection we concluded that not much work was needed. We cut off a few dead or broken branches, cut the top off one or two where the wind was threatening to uproot them (the ground that they stood in was moving under the leverage of the swaying tree), and removed crossing branches to generally tidy them up and stop them choking themselves.

On the planning permission front, I've checked and don't need it. The general character of the land is not being changed, no structures are being built, no watercourses are being altered. When I say 'garden', I mean safe area for my young son. It won't be filled with flower beds of non-native species, no paving will be laid etc. It will just be a piece of natural countryside, minus the eye level thorn laden branches and other typical countryside hazards. Of course some plants will be planted, but the classification of the land gives me a fairly free rain on that (as long as I don't introduce invasive species, or certain other 'risky' things).

The general idea is not to have a manacured garden worthy of Chelsea, but to provide a safe early introduction to the countryside and nature for my young son.