Plant a fruiting hedge

Why not plant your own stretch of species-rich hedgerow to add colour and interest to your garden and delight the local wildlife? It’s certainly a much cheaper and more attractive way of creating a boundary than buying a fence or building a wall. Here are some tips.

• Use a Native hedge which includes hawthorn, dog rose, field maple, hazel, gelder rose, spindle and blackthorn.  Add in a crab apple , some blackcurrants, raspberries  and red currants.

• Fruit bushes can be planted at very close spacings in a hedge, but it’s still really important to avoid planting too densely.

• Trim your established hedge every other year to allow for flowers and fruiting.