This blog is here to explain instant hedging / mature hedging, its benefits, and why you should invest in it for your garden!
What is instant hedging?
Instant hedging is a quick and easy way to provide privacy and security to your garden. Trough grown hedging is an impressive hedging unit for instant impact in your garden when you need a hedge perimeter or border solution in place, without having to wait for it to grow. These mature and ready-clipped units are expertly grown and nurtured over a number of years to produce these stunning specimens.
Each hedging unit is grown in a trough of either 50cm or 1m in length and is easily transferred from the trough or bag straight into the ground. The hedging units quickly knit together, blending seamlessly in a very short period of time, giving the impression that the hedge has been in situ for years.
If this sounds like what you need, take a look at our Instant Hedging and Trough Grown Instant Hedging category pages!
Which species are best-suited for instant hedging?
Despite not being able to purchase every hedge species as an instant hedge, some popular instant hedging species available are:
Classic ivy
Native – Hornbeam, Mixed native
Evergreen – Cherry laurel, Portuguese laurel
Compact – Japanese holly, Euonymus ‘jean huges’
Flowering – Star jasmine, Wild privet
Colourful – Photinia red robin, Purple beech
What are the benefits of instant hedging?
Instant privacy – Instant privacy and screening: Instant hedging is a quick and easy way to create privacy and screening in your garden. Using pre-grown hedges saves time as compared to waiting for traditional hedges to develop and fill in. Whether it’s blocking off a busy road, neighbouring properties, views you dislike, instant hedging can be a great choice. Check out our Instant Screening category page.
Attracts wildlife – Instant hedging can attract and support a variety of wildlife, including as birds, insects, and small animals. A well-chosen hedge species can help to increase biodiversity and create a more ecologically balanced garden. For more advice on this, have a look at our How to Create a Wildlife-Friendly Garden blog post.
Creating spaces – Instant hedging allows you to instantly define and divide different regions of a garden. It can be used to establish discrete zones for a variety of purposes, such as separating a play area from a rest area or defining routes and walkways.
Adding value to your property – Incorporating instant hedging adds immediate value to your property, creating a visually appealing landscape. The privacy, screening, and noise reduction benefits make the property more desirable, attracting potential buyers. With an established, well-maintained garden, instant hedging becomes a unique selling point that sets your property apart and increases its market value.
Overall, fast hedging has a transforming effect on a garden or landscape, giving immediate answers, time savings, and long-lasting aesthetic advantages.
How to plant an instant hedge
- Dig a trench roughly as deep as the instant hedging trough or bag, leaving enough additional space to dig in some well-rotted organic matter.
- Sprinkle Rootgrow in the bottom of the trench, following the recommended quantities found on the packet.
- Remove the hedging unit (you’ll need two people for this) and place it in the trench.
- Backfill and firm the hedging unit down into the trench.
- Water your new hedge well.
- Sit back and enjoy the instant impact it adds to your garden.
Using tall pots for instant hedging
Customers seeking an “instant effect” with tall pots for hedging are willing to wait for the plants to naturally grow together over time. While the pots provide the desired height, they might lack density. Nevertheless, this option is more cost-effective for those wanting immediate results. Large pots, typically sized 10L and above, contain established mature hedging plants with well-developed root systems, stems, and foliage (depending on the time of year and whether they are evergreen or deciduous varieties). The advantages of choosing this type of hedging are the ease of transplanting and successful adjustment to the new garden environment, as well as requiring fewer plants per meter to achieve a full and lush appearance.
How is instant hedging delivered?
Our instant hedging is conveniently delivered on pallets, still in the troughs or bags in which they were grown. These troughs are crafted from either durable plastic or heavy-duty hessian and equipped with handles at each end for effortless maneuvering. By using these materials, we ensure that your instant hedging units remain lightweight. Rest assured, all our instant hedge units can be easily handled by two physically fit individuals.
Overall, creating the same effect with hedging plants of various root types, like bare roots or pot-grown ones, demands 2-5 years of growth and care. In contrast, instant hedging, though a bit costlier, considers the time, expertise, and resources invested in crafting fully developed, ready-to-use hedging units that provide immediate results in your garden. Have a look at our selection on our Instant Screening category page.