Spacing – beware of the big rip-off!

How far apart to you space the plants in your hedge? This is the basic question and the answer is not as close together as some sellers would like you to plant them.

When you are deciding how far apart to plant in order to create a dense hedge a good rule of thumb for fast growing hedging such as conifers and Laurel is 75cms and slower growing hedges such as Yew 60cms. Anything closer can lead to your mature hedge going bare at the bottom as it gets older. There is a trend now to recommend planting  at 2 per metre. Sounds good planting one every 50 cms. The difference between 50cms and 75cms doesn’t sound much but can be 35% extra cost and your hedge will be no better and that’s worth thinking about when you’re spending a few hundred quid.