ᐅ Planting a Hornbeam Hedge – Recommendations

Hello!

In the next few days, I plan to plant my hornbeam hedge. It will be about 30 m (98 feet) long, using bare root plants that are 100-125 cm (40-50 inches) tall.

To prevent weeds, I am considering laying a weed barrier fabric, which I would then cover with bark mulch.

The nursery where I am getting the plants recommends creating a trench along the hornbeams that can be easily filled with water to ensure proper irrigation.

How would you approach this?
1. How can I practically combine the weed barrier fabric with a watering trench?
2. When is the best time to apply the bark mulch on top?

Thanks and best regards!

Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer for that, but it is very important to maintain enough distance from the neighbor / property boundary because they can grow quite a lot. We have ours trimmed regularly to prevent disturbing the neighbor.

I planted my hornbeam hedge without using any fabric. I’m not a fan of that. There’s usually not much weed growth under a beech hedge anyway, so why add plastic? When planting, I mixed some forest humus with our clay soil and added organic fertilizer. I also spread bark mulch directly on top. This helps bring some “life” into the soil right away. Later, I ordered a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of earthworms from Amazon, and they are thriving and multiplying.

She arrived yesterday. Hornbeam hedge.
Preparation work done. Dug a trench along the boundary. 50cm (20 inches) deep, one spade width. The gardeners then planted three plants per meter, filled the trench tightly, done. More is needed. Soil type is loamy arable soil. Former grain field. Karsten

warp schrieb:
How would you proceed?

Skip the weed barrier fabric and bark mulch.

We recently planted a few meters of [European beech] as well. We removed the weeds, loosened the soil using a rototiller, set up a string line, dug a trench, sprinkled horn meal, planted 3 plants per meter, filled the trench back in, pressed the plants down slightly, watered them, and leveled the remaining soil.

If you do decide to apply bark mulch, it’s very important to add a nitrogen source (e.g., horn meal). As the mulch decomposes, it initially draws nitrogen from the soil. Your plants would then either fail to thrive or not grow properly.

I also disposed of some leaves from another area along the hedge.