Hi,
I am thinking about making a living fence out of hazelnut on one side of our property. Its in the forest on a stream bank and therefore it would almost be impossible (and expensive, and ugly, and a waste of resources, etc) to install a regular fence. We already have lots of hazelnut growing there, so I could take plenty of cuttings. I was wondering 2 things now. Firstly I have read about 2 different approaches. One being the diamond pattern, something like this:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_e42FLWn7hkE/S0aP5y100oI/AAAAAAAAAJU/v3RkZdCgs5A/s1600/willow+fence+3.jpg and the other one is where you bend the branches down, like this:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/living-fences-z10m0sto.aspx?PageId=1#axzz2Ur0F9R00
Does anyone know which method works better, maybe especially for hazelnut? Or is there other methods, that are even better? Visually I dont really care, because its in the forest anyway, which is a big mess. The main point of the fence would be to keep deer and maybe badgers or even people out. Getting nuts out of it would be alright, but as I said, there is plenty of hazelnut already. And having a wildlife habitat would obviously also be fine, but I guess we have that already as well.
And my other question concerns the one species vs multiple species issue. As I said, I would use hazelnut because I know that it grows here and I can get plenty of cuttings. Also these methods above seem to be made for only one species. But I am not opposed to having multiple species, for adding variety and maybe other uses. I know there is wild roses around, which I guess I could use, but Im not sure how to incorporate them. And Im also not sure about which other plants could work in this shady environment (I am in Europe by the way, Austria to be exact, in the mountains).
I would love to hear some opinions, thoughts or experiences! And sorry for using someone elses thread, but I didnt wanna start a new one, seeing as this is very new and active.
Thanks!
-Hanna
