Edible Hedging

Like most of us, as a child I remember the long hot summers when everything was good but one of my strongest memories was walking along country lanes, with a bucket in hand, collecting the wild fruits which grew in abundance in the hedging that seems to go on for mile upon mile. Some fruit was so sweet that it could be eaten immediately whereas others were rather tart and bitter. Some fruits, such as those found on the hawthorn bush (also known as quickthorn) were highly poisonous and my parents made it perfectly clear that we were not to eat them. After a solid afternoon of collecting fruit from the hedging we would set off home to clean the fruit and get it ready for making jam. Blackberries, raspberries and black currants made wonderful preserves but the berries from the hawthorn hedging and the elderberries were my father's as he liked to make his own country wines (something I was to appreciate at a much older age).

Sadly today it is no longer advisable to collect any fruit from the roadside due to the pollution created by the massively increased traffic. Each year I still see one or two folk collecting fruit but it is now generally left as food for the birds. Another reason why such fruit is now much rarer is that modern farming methods demand much larger fields and maximum use of the available land. Hedges take up considerable room and although they had many advantages, such as protection from the wind, most of our hedgerows have now been replaced by fences or, in some areas, dry stone walling. Hedging is also wonderful for wildlife as they provided shelter for most of our wild creatures and they were ideal places for nesting birds. With todays trensd towards more ecofriendly farming and organic farming hedging is once again becoming popular so it may not be too long before we see more of these wonderful habitats once again gracing our country areas.

Most of us live in urban areas and are unlikely to be able to get out into the countryside much but, happily, we are able to create something similar in our own gardens. Many garden centres and nurseries now stock all of the common varieties of "edible" hedging which we can grow in our own gardens to produce our own fruit or, if we so choose, to leave for the birds. The most common types of trees and shrubs used in landscape gardens as part of edible hedging are Hazel, Japanese Quince, Blackberries, Cornelian Cherry and Cornelian Plum. Other types of trees and shrubs which produce edible fruits are Amelanchier, Berberis, Blackthorn, Elder, Elaeagnus ebbingei, Quickthorn, Rugosa Roses and Sea Buckthorn. So there is plenty of choice but you should always check with the supplier which hedging produces fruit suitable for human consumption and which hedging produces fruits which are considered poisonous.

Please Note

Remember that, under no circumstances, should you grow hedging which produces poisonous fruits in a garden in which children may play as they are unlikely to follow instructions given by parents if left unattended.

It is also worth noting that the plants mentioned above can also serve as specimen trees or shrubs in any garden. If you wish to do this then choose a tree of reasonable size and quality and place it in a prominent position in your garden and allow it to grow to maturity. Some species take well to pruning whereas other may not like this type of treatment so check with your supplier for cultivation advice.

Eric Johnstone has been a landscape gardener for about 15 years and writes for a small number of landscape gardening sites in his spare time.