Laying 42m Of Hedge - That I Planted 9 Years Ago!

 The week before last I decided to finally lay the hedge I'd been thinking about for the last few years.

What's really good about laying this hedge is I planted it myself 9 years ago (read the blog post here). 

Gleaning The Materials For Laying a New Hedge

 So with a 45m (ish) stretch of hedge to lay I needed to get started with finding the materials to do it. 

Being a tight smallholder I didn't want to buy anything for this job, which was already going to cost me a lot of labour, I wanted to find the materials on the smallholding. 

The hedge repair I did a few weeks back had started to provide me with some items, around 50 of the 80 or so hedging stakes I needed. I also needed to find binders and prep the hedge ready of laying, this involved the worst bit - Removing the tree guards! What a horrible job and one that brings it's own level of guilt with the plastic waste. 

Watch the video above and let me know what materials you harvest and manage from your own plots?

Fixing a Gap In A Hedge - Part Two - Dead Hedge & Planting Up Gaps

Please excuse the click-bait thumbnail for the video! Although it does show the dead hedge I weaved to finish my hedge repair. 

I was really pleased with how this hedge turned out, I've even had a few compliments from people who have seen it from the road!  

Doing a hedge is pretty easy once you get going, easy as in it's fairly easy to keep moving forward with it. But it is hard graft - some of the hardest I've done. Chainsaw helmet, chainsaw trousers, heating your whole body up. Thick gloves and long sleeves, fighting big branches of the hedge, unhooking each upright from each other, pulling them down, welding an axe and chainsaw all day. It feels great. I've been doing it again today and my whole body aches, but I know I'll sleep well tonight!

I've got about another 13m to do tomorrow (today by the time you read this) and I'm excited to get it done! No grant money, no one paying me, but it seems the right thing to do to steward the land in this way. 

Anyone else still got some hedge laying to do this year?

3 Articles This Month

I know I've already shared a few of my articles this month but this is the three of them together. 

In Woodcarving magazine I make a kolrosing knife and decorate a spatula.

In Woodworking Crafts magazine I make an adjustable arm for the workshop. 

In Woodturning Magazine I make a pastry crimper. 

All three were really fun projects! 

Another Apple Tree Pruning Video!

 So I think when learning to prune, other than doing it yourself, watching someone do it is a really good way of learning. 

That's my thinking behind doing a number of videos pruning this year. It shows a few examples of different trees and how I tackle them. 

This video shows a ten year old tree (a russet this time) and how I go about pruning it for this year. 

Always a nice feeling when the orchard is pruned ready for spring to start! 

Everyone else got their trees pruned for this year?