Would you like to plant a hedge? How about creating a fruit hedge? You have two options. This one presented here.
If you want to plant a hedge in the garden, you should think twice about opting for a fruit hedge. This guarantees you a pretty splendor of flowers every spring and a high-yield harvest in summer. Especially since there are now different ways of designing a mixed fruit hedge.
The length of the hedge is basically irrelevant. However, you should always take the local soil conditions into account when planting. So you have to choose a suitable type of fruit for each.
The great thing about a fruit hedge: it is relatively opaque from spring to autumn and only allows curious looks from outside into the garden interior in winter, when it has lost its leaves.
Create espalier fruit hedge/berry hedge
A distinction is primarily made between an espalier fruit hedge and/or a berry hedge. The berry hedge is usually slower in growth than the espalier fruit hedge. Both variants and tips for caring for your fruit hedge are presented here.
» Espalier fruit hedge
The advantage of trellis fruit hedges is that they do not grow as high (should not grow more than 2 meters in height) as conventional trees, which makes harvesting the fruit much more pleasant.
You can use countless types of pome fruit, such as apples, pears, cherries and plums, for an espalier fruit hedge. On the other hand, you can achieve an exotic fruit mix by planting kiwis, peaches, plums or apricots.
Hint:
When planting fruit hedges, only use hardy plants. You can easily create a fruit hedge with just one type of fruit or a colorful mix of compatible types.
When planting the trellis fruit or the trellis fruit hedge, however, you must take into account that the fruit trees grow along trellis wooden fences, which you must set up in advance. This should preferably be a fence post, whichPull fence wires through them horizontally, along which the fruit branches can later easily branch out.
» berry hedge
For a bushy berry hedge, you can plant currants with red, black and white fruits, among other things. But blueberries, gooseberries, jostaberries and the like are also very suitable for a berry hedge. Not to be forgotten in this context are sea buckthorn and rose hips!
However, if you want to plant a berry hedge that grows as tall as possible, raspberries, mulberries and blackberries are ideal for this, but you should allow for a climbing aid - e.g. by pulling wires, similar to espalier fruit. Incidentally, grapes are also suitable for a seasonally opaque, but very tall fence planting.
Maintenance of a fruit hedge
» Fertilize:
The maintenance effort for a fruit hedge is relatively low. You should only provide the hedge with sufficient organic fertilizer (compost) in spring and autumn. Alternatively, you can of course also use a complete fertilizer available from gardening stores or a special berry fertilizer.
And trellis trees naturally lose their leaves in autumn, so you can easily rake them up around the fruit stems so that they rot there. This has an additional fertilizing effect.
» Pests:
You should check fruit hedges regularly (approximately every 2 to 3 weeks during the season) for pest infestation so that you can always treat it quickly and it does not spread to other types of fruit. You should also check your hedges regularly for diseases on berries and espalier fruit.
» pruning/shaping:
Of course, you also have to cut back or shape the hedges every year, which vary depending on the type of fruit.