How We Put in and Maintain Our Native Hedgerows
Prior to planting, we killed off the grass and weeds in a strip about 4’ wide with tarps, weedwhacking, and hoeing (we also rented a sod-cutter but discovered that those are not made for pasture grasses!) We planted the North Hedgerow in October 2023 with potted plants provided by the Xerces Society. We planted the South and East Hedgerows in March 2024 with mostly bare-root plants purchased at Soil and Water Conservation District sales (Benton, Marion, and Yamhill) and the Linn Small Woodlands Association sale.
The North Hedgerow slopes slightly so the west end (inside the deer fence) has well-drained soil while the east end is flooded in winter and spring, so we placed the plant species according to their ability to survive these conditions. The East Hedgerow also has this wet to dry gradient going from north to south, although not as pronounced as in the North Hedgerow. Both of those hedgerows have pretty much full sun. The South Hedgerow is in shade or part-shade, so we chose plants that like or tolerate shade, as well as some swampy conditions in winter. Part of the South Hedgerow is under a powerline, so we chose shorter plants there.
Plants were categorized as large shrubs, small shrubs, or forbs in order to determine spacing. In the future we will add more info about how we spaced them and add a list of plant species.
After planting, we put in drip irrigation: 1/2” mainline with pressure-compensating emitters (Woodpeckers) of 1 gal/hr at each plant (as they grow we will add emitters and switch to 2 gal/hr at the larger plants.) Then we mulched with paper feed sacks and leaves, and put wire cages (held down with poles) around plants for protection from deer (except for the plants inside our deer fence).
To maintain the hedgerows, we irrigated in 2024 when it wasn’t raining, about once every 5-7 days for 1-2 hours at a time. We plan to reduce irrigation frequency in 2025. We periodically mowed the grass along the edges, weeded the strip, and re-applied leaf mulch.
At the ends of the North and the South Hedgerows, we planted a total of 132 willow-sticks in March 2024. These were all cuttings from our existing willow tree, which is probably a Scouler’s Willow. These were spaced 18 inches apart and watered with drip tape. In the pasture at the end of the North Hedgerow, we stapled down drip tape, stapled down black plastic 4 feet wide, and then punched holes and planted the willow sticks through the holes. At the end of the South Hedgerow, former owners of our property had put down rock and gravel, so to plant each willow stick we had to pound in a piece of rebar with a sledgehammer, pull it out with a fence post puller, and then plant the willow (prior to planting we laid drip line and mulched with feed sacks and leaves.)
The initial survival rate of our willow-sticks was 63%, but we didn’t put cages around these plants, so they took a beating from the deer. Also, the set we mulched with black plastic probably got too hot in the summer. And part of the area we planted was probably too wet for Scouler’s willow (standing water in winter and spring). So our survival rate at present (April 2025) is only 27%, but now we have put cages around most of the survivors. At least we have proved that willows can grow in the rock and gravel which underlies the grass along much of our south fenceline.