Hedge number 3 at Avery Hill

We must be doing something right, as Greenwich University asked us to lay another hedge at their Avery Hill campus. The photo below shows the hedge in late autumn when I did an evaluation and measurement visit - before I get comments, it's the one on the left. It's a mixed hedge of Hawthorn and Field Maple with some Privet, Holly and Spindle but growing under mature Oaks has stunted growth in many areas. It runs for 200 meters along the footpath and main road entrance to the campus.

We (SHG - South-east London chapter) started the first traunch of 120 meters on Monday with a tricky ninety degree return from the car bay onto the footpath proper. 

We were extremely lucky with the weather getting two full days almost rain free. The grounds staff had cordoned off the full length of the footpath and, as the hedge was manageable with hand-tools only, we were able to crack on at a good pace. Here we have Ian at work and you can see that, with the hedge being single-planted and rather thin, there is little brash coming out and what there is was used to fill in gaps. One dead tree and a couple of out-of-line medium sized bushes were removed by chainsaw and one of these is in the foreground.

Further down the hedge Fred is working on a mixed Field Maple and Holly section and we were making such good progress that we had the whole 120 meters down by mid-afternoon on Monday.

We were back early on Tuesday morning, which after a short sharp shower turned into another sunny day. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos during the staking and binding process. This was in part because we were none too pleased with the materials supplied. We had no control over the supply of stakes and binders and were shocked by the lack of any quality control. Not only were a large proportion of the binders far too thick to be manageable but the stakes were uneven, crooked and sharpened at the wrong end! If you think I'm joking take a look at this example.

Notwithstanding the quality of the stakes and binders, we made a fist of finishing off the job and below are a few shots of the completed hedge. The first photo shows the start from the car bay end.

 

Sorry about the shadow in the next shot - I may take a few more when I go back tomorrow to put the SHG sign on the hedge.

Despite a two hour wait for the stakes and binders to be delivered, we finished off this first traunch in good time on Tuesday, and at 20 meters per man per day I think it was pretty good going. Well done Fred and Ian.

And this morning, just before the rain started.