Hedge has not yet acquired the required level of popularity among land owners in middle lane. Meanwhile, creating it with your own hands in just two years is quite possible. It's attractive and cheap way fencing a site that can last 20-50 years.
There are many plants from which you can create a hedge, but I want to focus on willow. Willow grows well in the middle zone and does not freeze in winter, so there is no problem of shelter for the winter, it is unpretentious and grows quickly.
You can choose any of the willow varieties: holly (popularly willow), three-stamen (belotal), five-stamen (chernotal), dew-leaved, purple or twig-shaped.
First you need to prepare a place for the fence. The fence, depending on your desire, can be straight or curved, so we lay the cord based on preference. We dig up the ground. The width and depth of the dig should be 40-50 cm. We drive in the pegs at a distance of 1.5 m from each other and connect them crosswise. The height of the pegs should correspond to the height of the fence. As a cross, you can use poles or a strong rope (we will tie willow twigs to them)
Cooking required quantity young willow cuttings (young flexible shoots 1.2-1.5 m long). If it is not possible to prepare cuttings yourself, you can buy them, but then the cost of the fence will increase sharply.
We plant the cuttings at a distance of 20 cm from each other, the planting depth is 30 cm. It is better to plant at an angle of 45 degrees, then it is more convenient to intertwine adjacent twigs.
Willow takes root very easily (almost 100%), so no special feeding is required. You just need to water it generously.
Now we intertwine the twigs with each other at our discretion. It is necessary to tie them to the crossbars to form a fence. You need to attach it firmly enough, but delicately, soft material(bast, twine).
As the cuttings grow, we continue to form a hedge.
A hedge is, of course, not a fence, which, after construction, you can forget about for a while. The hedge needs to be shaped by trimming it at your discretion.
Thus, a willow hedge can become a decoration for your site and delight your eye. And this is easy to do and, as you can see, quite quickly.
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Creating a recreation area on personal plot, I want to protect it from prying eyes, without cluttering the area with heavy structures. In this case, hedges that you can make with your own hands will come in very handy.
- barberry;
- boxwood;
- lavender;
- privet;
- currant;
- mulberry;
- yellow acacia;
- hornbeam;
- hawthorn;
- juniper;
- rose hip;
- willow, etc.
Today we will pay attention to the process of planting and forming a willow hedge and all the associated features and nuances. A willow hedge grows quickly, looks quite aesthetically pleasing (as seen in the photo) and does not require special care.
Willow is a genus of plants that includes several hundred species and a huge number of subspecies. It is characterized by rapid growth, and, therefore, there is a real opportunity to design a living fence into a rather short rock.
The most affordable and popular varieties of willow in landscape design
- Red shell.
- Red.
- Belotal.
- Almond-leaved willow.
- Holly willow.
- Twig willow.
- Purple willow.
- Red willow.
- Three-stamen willow.
- Five-stanched willow.
Why willow?
- She is unpretentious.
- It grows very quickly.
- Resistant to severe frosts.
- Calmly tolerates the haircut process.
- It is moisture-loving (will not suffer from oversaturation of the soil with excess) moisture.
- It can be propagated by cuttings. Those. there is no need to purchase a large number of seedlings.
- All its subspecies are excellent honey plants (this is for the information of owners of mini-apiaries in country lands).
Planting and forming a willow hedge with your own hands
formed hedge
Such a living fence requires additional attention to the formation of a certain pattern of stems. The design of the ornament depends on your imagination. We will describe a fairly standard type of formed willow fence.
What should you stock up on?
- pegs (their size is completely dictated by the length of the seedlings);
- cord for marking;
- shovel;
- twine for tying shoots;
- knife for cutting bark;
- mineral fertilizers;
- water for irrigation;
- seedlings.
Annual plants need to be prepared in the fall, storing them in basement. Cuttings need to be prepared by cutting before the growing season. Cuttings cut later take root less well.
If you did not harvest seedlings yourself, you can buy them. When purchasing willow, make sure that the roots are in burlap or a container. The soil inside the package should be moist. If the roots are dry, the seedlings can be thrown away.
What and how to do?
- Drive sharpened pegs along the line of the planned living fence, maintaining a step of 1.5-2 m.
- Make markings by attaching a cord to the pegs.
- Dig up the soil along the marking, lifting a layer of soil about 50 cm.
- Fertilize the dug up soil with mineral fertilizers.
- Water the dug-up strip.
- Plant the seedlings at intervals of 15-20 cm and at an angle of 45° to ground level.
- Bend two adjacent shoots towards each other.
- Where two cuttings cross, trim the bark and tie the bare areas together with twine (or duct tape) and trim the shoot above the junction. This way they grow together faster.
- The next year, when the cuttings grow together, bend the new shoot in the opposite direction and connect it in the same way with another adjacent shoot, gradually forming a hedge.
- Next, the grown shoots can be intertwined with each other.
Important!
In the fall, inspect the living fence for dead shoots. Replace them with new ones, intertwining them with established sprouts. This way your hedge will not lose its strength and visual aesthetics.
Free growing hedge
Such an unformed hedge (photo) consists of densely planted shoots of plants and does not require special care. It is enough to cut it once a year, water it and destroy pests. 
By the way, such slightly neglected, “wild” and romantic fences are more popular today among landscape design specialists.
How do you trim living hedges?
- garden shears;
- pruning shears;
- trimmer;
- electric scissors;
- chainsaw.
Willow tunnel
A hedge does not have to be straight. Figures made from plants look very original, but this pleasure is not cheap, and not every gardener is capable of cutting an exclusive crown on his own. But there are simpler options, but no less effective. For example, you can easily build a tunnel from willow.
The planting principle is the same as described above, only the shoots are planted in two rows. The distance between the rows is equal to the width of the future tunnel (most often this value is about 1.5 m). When both hedges grow to required height(keep in mind that a person must pass freely under the arch), the stems located opposite each other are tied, forming the arch of the arch along the entire length of the tunnel. Caring for such a living structure is not difficult. It usually comes down to autumn pruning excess shoots and elimination of dead cuttings. Dead shoots are replaced by planting new ones, weaving them into the already formed composition. This way, the tunnel will not lose stability and will get rid of gaping holes in place of dried plants.
This video will help you learn more about what a willow hedge is:
A hedge is a beautiful and lively frame for your site. Let's learn how to create it with our own hands.
A willow hedge is the most cheap look fences today. With the help of seedlings of this plant, you can create a high fence that will protect the area from uninvited guests. Such a fence will merge with the overall landscape, making it look more organic than any artificial building.
Willow hedge: inexpensive and beautiful
The main advantage of a hedge made of willow is its year-round aesthetic appeal. It looks very beautiful in any season and at the same time provides protection. land plot from prying eyes.
In addition, willow is unpretentious plant. In just a year it will already turn into a dense “wall”. So-called cuttings are formed on adult plants, which can be cut and with their help the willow will be propagated again. Thus, you also save money on seedlings.
Willow looks very beautiful as a hedge. There are many species of this plant, which differ from each other in size, leaf shade, crown, and height.
They can be tall or short, dwarf or creeping. A hedge can be planted either in one line or in several. You can choose for the green “fence” the plant variety that you like best.
Willow hedge
Willow is one of the few shrubs that can reproduce using cuttings. They can be annual or biennial.
The plant can also propagate by layering. In any case, the sprouts will take root and develop quite quickly. Only at first they will be weak, so it is important to constantly remove unnecessary weeds growing around so that they do not choke the young willow hedge.
Growing a willow hedge
When choosing plants for your hedge, pay attention to species such as Norway willow. It is also called willow or krasnotal (this is what we buy for the holiday of the Holy Trinity). It is ideal for an evergreen “fence”. You can also use blackthal, belotal, purple, twig, and dewy willow.
All these types are characterized by high frost resistance, durability, rapid growth, unpretentiousness. In addition, they feel good even in waterlogged soil. Such a hedge is easy to trim, so it can be given a wide variety of shapes.
It is advisable to prepare sprouts for planting in the fall. You can also do this early spring. It is worth noting that two-year-old cuttings (slightly woody) take root in the soil much better than annual ones. By the way, today there is no need to independently procure seedlings, because they are sold in abundance.
However, some nuances should be taken into account. When buying shoots, make sure that the roots of the plant are in a special container or wrapped in burlap. The soil or material must be moist. Otherwise, the roots will be dry and unsuitable for planting.
Having selected the cuttings, proceed to the actual process. First you need to tighten the cord, determining the straight line of the future fence.
Then you should dig up the earth along the entire length. Depth and width - about half a meter. In 150 cm increments, drive stakes into the ground, connecting them with transverse poles (this is done so that the sprouts can be tied up later).
Cut strong willow cuttings and plant along the marking line. The depth should be thirty centimeters, and the distance between them should be twenty centimeters. The upper ends of the sprouts must be tied tightly to the poles using a washcloth.
If you want to create a stronger hedge on your site, you can complicate the planting scheme a little. Plant cuttings in two rows, every ten centimeters.
In this case, the rows should be at a distance of thirty to fifty centimeters from each other. Place the first two shoots at an angle of sixty degrees to the soil, at an angle.
Next, plant a single shoot vertically, and then install the next inclined pair. In this way, place the cuttings over the entire area of the future hedge. It turns out that the vertical shoots in the rows will be opposite each other, just like the inclined pairs.
The latter should be tied at the point of their contact. They also need to be intertwined at the top. All shoots must be tied to prepared horizontal supports. This will give the fence even more strength. As vertical supports You can use willow shoots planted a year earlier.
Seedlings from containers can be planted at any time of the year. Shoots without soil at the root should be planted in early spring. You can do this and early autumn, however, if the willow variety is not frost-resistant, it will quickly die.
Hedge care
As a rule, willow cuttings take root completely and do not require any special care. The only thing that must be done is to trim the sprouts in the fall.
To make a willow hedge more durable, they must also be intertwined. After two years, the fence will become so dense that it will be very difficult to crawl through it. In addition, it will turn out to be quite high, which will provide additional protection from unauthorized entry into the site.
Hedge criss-cross In the first year, try to remove the grass around the seedlings as thoroughly as possible. This will prevent the planting from being drowned out by weeds.
It is recommended to water young shrubs a lot. If the summer period turns out to be dry, the hedge should be moistened 1-2 times a week; if not, once every 2 weeks. Several times during the course you can fertilize the willow using complex fertilizers. In autumn it is necessary to use superphosphate.
It is worth noting that in September-October it is better to remove fallen leaves from under willow trees. If you choose a plant with low frost resistance, cover the trees for the winter, at least at first. It is recommended to trim willow twice a season - in spring and at the end of summer.published
If you have any questions on this topic, ask them to the experts and readers of our project.
A willow hedge has always been considered a sign of good taste in a gardener. Since ancient times, willow has been planted by lovers of unusual and colorful gardens. This plant can serve as a green fence, low hedge or as a free-standing tree. Due to the many varieties, willow can be combined to create various compositions, which makes it possible to bring to life the artistic thoughts of gardeners. Willow is an unpretentious and perennial plant.
Alley grown from living willow bushes
A willow hedge belongs to the category of deciduous, however, when proper disembarkation, even in winter period will serve as an impenetrable fence and worthy.
And a willow fence with your own hands, a person expends creative and physical strength. Before you begin to form any of the plants, you should first determine its positive and negative qualities.
Positives:
Negatives:
- Takes up a lot of space on the site. If it was decided to make a living fence from willow, then it is necessary to take into account its growth in width.
- It is not possible to plant other plants near a willow hedge. The reason for this is the growth of roots around the plant and the shadow, which will interfere with normal growth.
- Excessive moisture accumulation can have both positive and negative effects on the soil.
Preparations before landing
When deciding to plant a willow with your own hands, you need to decide on the location.
Preparing willow seedlings for planting The most common option is planting inside the territory in the form of zone dividers in the garden or planting in the form of a fence that will serve as a living fence from the street.
Before planting, it is also worth considering the shape of the hedge. For example, shapes can be curved, straight or circular. Next, you can plan the area with pegs. Drive them into the ground, marking the boundaries of the fence, and tie a rope between them. Thus, the layout will be future form hedges 
You should also know that to form a sparse hedge, you should plant no more than 2 shrubs per 1 meter. For dense planting, use from 3 to 5 bushes. To create a very dense and impenetrable hedge, you can organize a two-row planting. In this option, the plants are planted in a checkerboard pattern so that each of them has good growth and a thick crown.
Tip: Almost all varieties of willow are planted at an angle of 45 degrees. Each of the trees can be tilted towards each other and tied together. This is done to allow the branches to grow together, which will make the fence impenetrable and dense.
Willow planting
Willow is famous for its many varieties and because of this it is popular among gardeners and summer residents. One of the popular varieties of this plant is “Holly willow”. It looks laconic in design, either as a separately planted plant or as a hedge. One of the advantages of Norway willow is its undemandingness to soil and frost resistance.
When starting to form a fence, you should dig several trenches throughout the planned area. The depth of the trench should be approximately 60 cm and the width 50 cm. Depending on the shape and density of the hedge, an even distance between plantings must be maintained. Optimal distance between seedlings should not exceed twenty centimeters. If there is a lump of earth on the seedlings, then the depth of the trench increases by another 10-20 cm.
After placing the seedlings, you should mix the soil, peat and compost in a one to one ratio and fill the trenches with the resulting substrate. Many experts advise applying mineral fertilizers to the soil. 
Undoubtedly, this improves growth, however, if the soil is rich, this may not be necessary. When the seedlings are planted, they should be tied to pegs driven into the ground. But you can also knock down a frame of slats in advance and tie all the shoots to it at an angle, as described above.
Note: seedlings can be bought in stores or specialized nurseries that sell various plants. You can also buy them second-hand in markets, but then no one will be responsible for the quality of the plant. Even when purchasing seedlings in so-called nurseries, you should make sure about their proper storage. They are usually sold in small containers or wrapped in burlap. The soil of the shoots should not be dry, regardless of the packaging.
A hedge made of willow (willow) is a romantic, gentle and elegant way to create an original fence suburban area, requiring minimum investment financial resources. This green fence is easy to create and easy to maintain. At making the right choice willow varieties, it takes root on any soil and turns into a full-fledged wall in a few years, which reproduces itself and does not lose its decorative appearance.
What types of willow are suitable for hedges?
There are about 600 varieties of willow in nature. Of these, approximately 20 varieties of this plant are used to create green fences in Russian open spaces. It is optimal to choose species for hedges that naturally grow in the floodplains of rivers and other bodies of water. These include the following willows:
- silver (white);
- holly;
- crying;
- purple.
Silver or white willow is a tree with flexible and thin branches, silvery pubescence and long green leaves of a pointed shape, reddish or gray bark. With the onset of spring, large earrings appear on it, giving the plant special beauty and decorativeness.
This willow tolerates drought and frost well and thrives in polluted air. It is characterized by longevity (fences made of silver willow delight the gardener for 45–50 years) and rapid growth. This tree is ideal for creating green fences (up to 3 m) when it is necessary to fence large suburban areas.
Wolf willow (Pomerania) is a shrub that grows near mountain rivers on pebble and sandy soils. Over the course of a year, such a willow adds 2–3 cm in width and 40–50 cm in height. Therefore, high (up to 6 m) fences are constructed from it.
Holly willow is not afraid of heat and cold. It takes root on sandstones, depleted and ordinary fertile soils, and easily tolerates pruning, which allows you to create fences of a wide variety of configurations and profiles. The tree retains its decorative properties for 25–30 years.
A chic living fence at the dacha is made from Babylonian (weeping) willow. It grows up to 18 m in height, has a voluminous, luxurious crown and branches of reddish, yellow or green color. In nature it grows in warm conditions. Its decorative varieties are used to create green hedges - Crispa, Tortuosa.
Purple, silver-green, or blue foliage gives purple willow fences a unique look. It is unpretentious, can withstand molding pruning and severe frosts without problems, and is used to form fences of different shapes.
Advantages and disadvantages of green fences - why are they so popular?
A willow hedge is created with minimal financial costs. A summer resident just needs to go to the nearest river or pond and cut willow cuttings, and then simply stick them into the ground on the site where it is planned to build a fence.
It is also allowed to use varietal seedlings sold in any plant nursery for planting. Their price is low, and the survival rate is 95–100%. Other advantages of willow fences include:
- Excellent self-reproduction of trees and shrubs. Plants quickly grow in height and width. This makes it possible to create as soon as possible lush green walls on a summer cottage.
- Easy to plant with your own hands and unpretentiousness. Willow seedlings do not need additional supports, sun protection, additional lighting, or specially prepared soil.
- Year-round decorative fencing. In spring, the willow is covered with catkins; in summer and autumn it pleases the eye with the exquisite colors of its leaves. And in winter, a willow fence enchants a person with the color of its bark, natural texture and natural interweaving of branches.
- Eco-friendly plasticity. The green fence easily acclimatizes to natural conditions, tolerates drought well, high humidity, winter frosts.
- Easy care of a living fence, ease of cutting branches and forming a wall with the desired geometric and decorative parameters.
- High density of shrubby willows. Due to this feature, the green hedge serves as protection from gusts of wind for heat-loving berries and vegetable crops, grown in the garden.
- Possibility of making furniture, baskets and others from cut willow twigs decorative items for household use.
- Varietal and species diversity.
- Preservation of decorative qualities for several decades.
Another important point. Willow shrubs and trees do not harm the soil on which they grow. Their root system on the contrary, it improves the aerobic potential of the soil, and falling leaves, when rotting, introduce useful microelements into the soil.
Willow hedges have only two drawbacks. Firstly, a large amount of moisture accumulates in the soil underneath them. Secondly, with excessive growth, trees and shrubs greatly shade summer cottage plot.
When to harvest and plant cuttings?
Willow hedges are created from early spring to mid-to-late November. If the fence is planned to be made from heat-loving species of willow, it is optimal to plant the plants from mid-April to July. Cuttings (seedlings) without an earthen ball are placed in the soil in early spring. In this case, by winter they take root well in the soil and within a year abundant growth appears on the site.
Self-harvesting planting material produced in autumn or spring. A healthy-looking shrub (tree) with strong branches is selected. The latter are cut with a disinfected, sharpened knife into cuttings so that each of them has 6–7 live buds. The length of the workpieces is taken within 0.3 m.
It is allowed to cut off young shoots, not old branches. Then the length of the cuttings should be 140–150 cm.
It is not necessary to cut the branches right away. They are placed in wet sand or wrapped in plastic bag and leave in a dark, cool room. The cutting of the collected shoots into cuttings is carried out before their planned planting in the soil.
Advice. Before planting, the preparations are placed in water for 2–3 days so that they produce roots. Some home craftsmen additionally treat the lower parts of willow cuttings with growth stimulants.
If the fence is planned to be created from decorative species willows, planting material is purchased from nurseries. It is recommended to buy two-year-old seedlings. They are guaranteed to give big gains in the first year.
Planting material is sold in specialized stores in containers or with roots wrapped in burlap moistened with water. High-quality seedlings have intact branches and bark. They must not be damaged.
Willow of all popular varieties - universal material for the construction of living fences of any type. It is suitable for creating:
- winding and straight fences delimiting the garden into separate zones, low borders;
- green wickerwork, tunnels, garden labyrinths;
- solid fences that fence off the dacha from neighboring areas, sidewalks and roadways;
- coppice fences;
- two- and single-row unformed and formed dense fences.
The trench in which it is planned to plant the shoots is marked with wooden stakes. Rods (transverse) are attached to them or an elastic rope or cord is pulled. The pegs are spaced 100–150 cm apart from each other. With their help, it is possible to form trenches of various shapes - in the form geometric shapes, winding or straight line.
Planting of plants in a prepared trench is carried out according to a certain pattern. Most often, willow is planted:
- Criss cross. In this case, the hedge becomes like a mesh fence with large cells.
- Palisade. Seedlings should be placed with a small interval of 10–15 cm.
- Let's weave. Willow cuttings play a role vertical racks. It is wound around such supports decorative material, willow twigs, thin wire. The result is a truly original country fence.
If you want to make a high-density hedge, seedlings are planted in a checkerboard pattern in two rows. The distance between the latter is maintained at about 80–100 cm.
Planting plants - algorithm of actions
If a green hedge is formed on poor soils, it is recommended to enrich them with a mixture consisting of mineral fertilizer, fine sand and peat. These components are taken in equal proportions. After this, they proceed directly to planting the willow. The instructions are simple:
- A small layer of sand is poured onto the bottom of the trench.
- Seedlings are placed in the soil at a 45-degree angle or vertically upward. Cuttings (shoots) are stuck into the ground to a depth of 0.4–0.5 m. 1 or 2 live buds are left on the surface of the ground.
- The seedlings are attached with pieces of soft fabric to a cord and pegs. They should be immediately bent and intertwined according to the chosen pattern, so that the willow, as it grows, forms the required fence configuration.
- Cuttings are not tied to stakes. They are covered with soil substrate, which should not cover the buds left on the surface.
The planted plants are watered. It will take a lot. For each cutting or seedling - from 20 to 50 liters, depending on the type of soil in the summer cottage.
Watering the shoots is carried out regularly - once every 7-10 days. 2-3 months after planting, the green fence is inspected. All weak and dead cuttings are replaced with new ones.
The growing hedge is periodically weeded. There should be no weeds around the plants. If necessary, the soil is loosened and saturated with special fertilizer - superphosphate (in autumn) or mineral complexes (in spring). Such compositions are used once every 2–4 years, not more often.
Trimming and shaping willow fencing - how and when is it done?
A willow hedge looks great. But if it is not trimmed periodically, the green composition quickly loses its aristocratic appearance and turns into ordinary thickets. Trimming a fence grown by yourself is done with pruning shears or a special saw. The optimal time for this operation is August and April.
The first cutting is carried out a year after planting the willow. It is necessary to remove all shoots that escape the profile of the green fence, broken and dried branches. During the first trimming, the hedge is given a certain configuration - spherical, triangular, rectangular, which is subsequently maintained by regular trimming.
There is also a coppice method of forming a living fence. It is used for untrimmed willow fences. This technique involves cutting the shoots with oblique lines to ¾ of the length. The operation is repeated annually for 2–3 years.
Each subsequent time the cut is made slightly higher than the previous one. The coppice method allows you to update and improve appearance hedges, increase its density. Thanks to this, the green composition always looks attractive from a decorative point of view.
