Category

Planting Conditions

29/01/2020
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Protecting Plants in Winter

Although winter is a great time for planting, sometimes the weather can stop you in your tracks. If you find yourself with a new delivery of bare root or root ball hedge plants but the ground is frozen or water logged, here’s a guide that will help you to find the best way to protect your plants until the conditions improve. 1. Watering Determining when frost will strike is not easy, especially with the unpredictable UK weather. However, as temperatures have dropped and frost is expected, watering two or three... Read More

08/01/2020
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Gardening in the Rain – The Soggy Aftermath

With all this rain we’ve been having, it’s important to assess the damage and decide what the next step is for ensuring our plants are as healthy as possible! Heavy rainfall can be deadly to plants. As the soil becomes waterlogged, plants start to drown! This happens because water fills up the spaces in between the soil particles which prevents oxygen from reaching the roots. This causes the soil to stagnate which in turn, stops the roots from growing. How to beat the rain 1. Tell-tale signs of waterlogged soils... Read More

28/11/2019
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Things to Remember When You Have a Rural Garden

Some people would say that the best thing about living in a rural environment is having tons of outdoor space and the opportunity to spend as much time outside as possible. Having outdoor space doesn’t just mean that your family has room to run about and feel free, however. For many people, it means that you can use your room for gardening, growing food to feed your family and maybe keeping animals if you wish. Depending on how much you know about plants and growing, getting started in creating your... Read More

08/11/2019

How well do you know your Soil?

The Best4Hedging guide to identifying your soil type Recognising what type of soil you are working with in your garden is essential before purchasing hedging plants or shrubs as different species prefer certain conditions. All soils consist of the same basic materials; a variety of mineral and rock particles, however the different concentrations of certain particles in each soil determines which of the 5 main soil categories it falls into. The success of your plants depends on how well they can deal with the conditions faced and whether they can easily absorb the moisture and... Read More

23/10/2019
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Frog-Friendly Gardens

The amphibious family often found in our gardens will always have a special place in our hearts, almost all of us will have fond memories of encounters with these unique critters. Many of us will remember how they helped to educate us as youngsters with the wonder of metamorphosis. As children, we awed over the strange looking frog spawn in the local pond; the wriggles and squirms of tad poles and the development of small limbs that form our much-loved frogs. They are one of few species of garden wildlife... Read More

15/10/2019
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RSPB Approved Bird Friendly Hedge Packs

Autumn is a time of change, a change of temperature as the months turn cooler leaving summer behind, a change of colour with the falling leaves leaving our streets covered in blanket of golden browns. We say goodbye to birds who leave for migration and hello to those who are looking for food for the upcoming months. This is the perfect time be thinking about the wintering bird species that need our help.  The RSPB are now the largest nature conservation charity in the country, founded in 1889, they continue to grow with... Read More

03/09/2019
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Feeding hedges, shrubs and roses

The first thing we should address is if it’s actually necessary to feed your plants. And the simple answer is yes. However, this differs between different types of plants; whereas Roses and containerised plants require regular feeding, hedges and shrubs can get by with the occasional feed. Many gardeners presume that plants only need feeding when they begin to show signs of poor growth, however poor growth can also be related to other factors such as drought, pests and weather damage, rather than a lack of nutrients. So when exactly... Read More

02/04/2019
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April Gardening Advice 2019

Now that the clocks have changed and we’re ‘springing forward’ towards better weather (hopefully), you’ll finally start to see your hard work from the winter months appearing as bright foliage and striking blossoms in your garden.  But it’s not time to sit back and enjoy it just yet, there’s plenty of jobs to do this month and here’s our pick of the most important: Planting and pruning You can still buy and plant bare root and rootball hedging and we have started our cold storage technique, for more information on this... Read More

houseplants 12/04/2015
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House plants – A how-to guide

At Best4hedging we provide a lot of information about how to care for the hedging and shrubs in your garden, but we know that sometimes you might need a helping hand with your smaller, indoor plants, so we’ve put together this easy-to-follow guide to make sure your houseplants are just as healthy as your hedging. Light As you know, all plants need light to survive, but it’s not as easy as just placing your houseplant in front of a window, there’s a little bit more to consider. The majority of... Read More

bare root cold store 07/04/2015
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What is cold storage?

Cold storage is a method of prolonging the dormant season of bare root hedging plants. It means that they can safely be planted slightly beyond what is normally considered the end of the bare root season i.e. late March/early April. A cold store is, in essence, just a huge fridge. It is dark and the temperatures are kept just below freezing (-3C). This tricks the plants into staying dormant when the weather outside is beginning to reach temperatures and light levels which would normally start them into growth – effectively... Read More