Hedge alongside vegetable garden

Hi! Looking for suggestions. I have a 6 m x 10 m vegetable plot and want to plant a hedge along one 10 m side. It's almost entirely for visual purposes - a screen between the walk to my front door and the veg garden, which is in the front yard. Keeping critters out would be a plus, and of course food is always nice.

Anywhere between 2 and 6 ft in height would work. It's in full sun. It's a subtropical climate (Azores) that tends to stay between 50F and 80F. Dry summers, winters can be very wet and windy. The soil's clay but I'm doing what I can to improve it.

I was thinking of natal plum (Carissa macrocarpa) but just learned the roots spread and I'm concerned they'll interfere with the vegetables. Plus I'm not sure it would be great to have so much thorniness right next to the growing area.

Rosemary does well here, so that's a possibility. Maybe bay laurel. Blueberries? I think we don't get enough cold for them to fruit. Anybody have other ideas?

Or is this a bad idea? I've tried searching for recommendations, but they don't seem to be out there, so maybe this is something not to do?

Thanks!

Patricia

As you mentioned, rosemary makes a great hedge and smell so good. It might slo be useful for keeping out pests and critters.

Here are some other suggestions, I especially like the rose idea:

https://permies.com/t/20802/Rugosa-Rose-Hedge-food

https://permies.com/t/14697/Hawthorn-Serviceberry-Shadbush-Saskatoon-hedge

https://permies.com/t/58993/evergreen-edible-hedge

https://permies.com/t/177967/Plants-yield-tidy-ish-hedge

there are some fantastic new blueberry varieties that produce bumper crops of fantastic berries in warn climates. there are now huge blueberry farms in central florida. dont know what varieties if they are rabbit eye or high bush they are but ive driven by some of the farms and the bushed are plentiful and at least 8' tall or more. maybe IFAS at university of florida would be a good source for information.
in such a situation like you describe you want something that will not be bushy at the bottom to create habitat for critters that could hide there and then attack your produce as it ripens.
not sure exactly how warm it is there but strawberry guava might also be a good candidate for what your wanting to do

Thanks, Anne and Bruce! I learned a lot. Will definitely look into those blueberries. For the hedge I'm thinking, now, Elaeagnus (Russian olive). Fixes N, evergreen ,makes fruit, smells good. It gets big but is said to respond well to pruning.