Give It A Go - Rural Skills what are termed ‘steepers’ between 15 to 100mm in Once everyone is kitted up we move off to find the diameter that will be laid to form the living base of the hedge we’re to work on. hedge. This appears a daunting task as we survey the mass The hedge is like any other you’ll see in a Devon lane of tangled growth. Of course nobody wants to make a or field but characterised, as many are these days by its mistake so the rule is, if in doubt leave it standing and a ‘mushroom top’. This shape arises from the bulbous decision can be made later if there’s too many steepers. We heads of saplings that have been regularly flailed by a work in pairs of students with a volunteer overseeing and hedgecutting machine (similar to a pollarded tree). This is at first progress is slow and the task at hand looks like a the modern way that landowners will use to keep hedges tall order. However, after a couple of hours we’re starting in trim but it leads to dense foliage at the flailing height with a shortage of material below. This situation isn’t ideal to arrive at the point when we can cut the steepers. Whilst we are clearing the as a hedge’s primary purpose hedge one of the volunteers is to keep livestock in and A hedge’s primary purpose is to clears any oversized stems provide shelter. A flailed keep livestock in and provide with a pleasingly quiet hedge will, after time, fulfil shelter. A flailed hedge will, after electric chainsaw which neither of these jobs. Our time, fulfil neither of these jobs. makes short work of a task today is to restore the section of the hedge which 60 metres of hedge to fulfil is largely populated with sycamore growth too sturdy to its original function. steep. This section of hedge will need to be replanted with A Devon-style hedge is unusual (but not unique) as hedging varieties such as hawthorn, blackthorn, beech, it is laid on a bank, the laid small trees and shrubs and hornbeam, hazel and holly. the bank together forming the barrier. The hedge we’re Our section of hedge has an established holly tree as working on has a stone faced bank and a single ‘comb’ well as an ash; these would usually be removed but as the of foliage along its top. Wider hedges can have a double holly is healthy and the ash a rare survivor of ash die back ‘comb’ of foliage on either side with an infilling of soil in disease on this occasion they are spared. the middle. The tall saplings atop reflect the fact that the At this point there’s a healthy stack of debris and before hedge hasn’t been flailed for 2 to 3 seasons. we start laying our steepers we go through the cut saplings to The first step of the process is to strip out all the really identify suitably forked lengths or crooks that will be used as light growth, any dead wood, saplings growing sideways staples to fix down the laid steepers. This is a skill in itself and and debris in the hedge. What’s left is a good stock of
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Making a start cutting the steepers
englishrivieramagazine.co.uk
February/March 2022 | 25
