Scarlet Hamilton

Elaeagnus is good - Russian olive was mentioned but there are tons of them. E. umbellata (Autumn Olive) is supposed to produce lots of edible berries besides fixing N. You can keep it pruned to minimalise shading.

Thank you all for the posts!

For the past 4 months I've been using an organic seaweed spray on them. I came across that when working out why the hedge plants look so ill (yellow and brown with curled up leaves with the occasional red spots!). I figured this must be lime induced chlorosis even though the plants are suited to alkaline soil (which is what it is around here), they are probably deficient in nutrients because of what they were planted in. The main ones being magnesium, calcium and iron which are in the seaweed. Ever since starting a strict regime of 15ml seaweed to 5 litres of water applied as a foliar spray every Tuesday just before it gets dark (yes that strict), the plants started producing healthy looking leaves and became less ill looking. By the time it gets to the next spray day they are looking ill again. I think this spray contains all the nutrients they get and it seems like they're dependant on it so as soon as I get some soil in there the better.

It freezes here in UK zone 7. My order of 18 trees and some other plants will arrive in December when it's likely to be frozen and I'm planting them all by myself *brrrrrr*. I think the poor hedge will have to be replanted at the end of December when dormant. I would wait a few months more but I'm not sure if that would be good for them.

The seaweed is supposed to be applied during the growing months and I'm not sure if this applies to this situation. At the same time as providing nutrients it is making them grow extra fast and be healthy but the down side is that they are becoming bigger and less manageable for replanting. Do you think I should stop spraying them this month or continue?

Elaeagnus is supposed to be invasive in some parts of the US so hopefully they will be vigorous enough to make a full recovery!

Really nervous about that. I'll probably prune them to make them more manageable.

I feel better now that you said experienced people do it

Do you mean roughly dig the new soil into the old compost mix after I've dug the plants out or with them in as they are?

Has anyone planted a hedge, dug it up and replanted it before? If so was it a success?

I planted a hedge of Elaeagnus (umbellata and ebbingei) 2 years ago. The garden soil was pretty much non existent and the ground was full of mostly rocks, gravel, stone and junk. I did what I thought was best at the time and used what I had to hand. A big trench was dug where the hedge was to be planted. I’m against digging but in this process I learned where an ancient wall as well as pipes were located. I wasted a lot of time hand sieving what little soil there was and putting it back in the trench minus all the rocks and gravel because I thought they would make less room for the roots or make it harder for them. This was at the time when I was totally clueless and had just moved from the city to the country (excuses excuses). What I had to hand was a huge amount of ericaceous compost and so I put it all in the trench and had no idea what was about to happen…the plants are now sinking because compost decomposes - well duh!

These days I know the difference between soil and compost and would never plant a hedge like that again! I think sheet mulch was the answer but at least I’ve made my big mistake and got that out of the way early. This Winter I’d like to replant by carefully digging them out and planting into mounded up topsoil and rocks over the existing planting spot and sticking the plants in the mound. My theory is that the mound will sink over time but only to the level of the rest of the ground (not inches below it).

Do you think this is a sensible idea?

Thank you!

I found this thread:
http://groworganicapples.com/phorum/read.php?13,1146,1146#msg-1146

Containing 2 decent pdf files worth a look.

I'm still trying to work out if I want to use this method.

Does anyone know the names of the French researchers who train trees to below horizontal like in The Permaculture Orchard film? I’m trying to find out more info about it before I plant my trees this year.

I realised after I posted that the horseradish or any other clumping plant can probably be controlled by using a spreading plant around it. I’m going to be planting my first 2 apple tree guilds soon

Deb Stephens wrote:Scarlet,
nature knows so much more about what should go where than we do.

Agreed!

Roger Taylor wrote:

Scarlet Hamilton wrote:Ground cover raspberry might be a good one for around the trunk? I think it might be but that is also a question because I’d like to know if anyone has tried it. I’ve got plenty of rubus nepalensis. It spreads quickly and is a superb ground cover. It is my first year growing it and I’m yet to see any fruit. Not sure if it will produce little berries in it’s first year.

I was picking pine cones up from between brambles. You're talking about thornless raspberries, right? Under non-fruiting tree?

I mean ground cover raspberries. They are thornless plants (at least rubus nepalensis is) and it reaches about 20cm high, spreads quickly and makes a great groundcover. It is easily removed.

I'm wondering about whether to use it under an apple tree around the trunk. I know the usual idea is to put a mineral accumulator there and for a while I did want to use horseradish. Comfrey is out of the question for me as I already have a patch of it nearby and the thought of having something around the tree permanently is a bit scary - what if the tree died? Horseradish seems a bit better but is known to spread - how would I stop it from taking over the garden? Wouldn't harvesting the roots be a risk to the tree? Hostas have been recommended for around the trunk but I don't want something prone to slug damage. Sorrel is a good mineral accumulator and seems like it would be good to use with ground cover raspberry around the trunk. Sorrel is an ok but not great ground cover and that would be ok if ground cover raspberry was running around it. I think I'm rambling now...

I love the pics in this thread!