Looking for Tree and Hedge Planting in Rugeley?

This was a large tree and hedge planting job completed in Rugeley, Staffordshire. This project involved planting one hundred and twenty-five 4 to 5 metre tall trees. They ranged from traditional woodland trees such as Oak and Beech to some more unusual tees such as the Lirodendron tuliphera which is a beautiful specimen tree growing to 25 metres plus and has white/cream tulip-like flowers in the spring.

The hedging was Beech (Fagus sylvatica) and the size was 0.9 – 1.2m tall. We planted one thousand six hundred of these. Once established these will make an ideal backdrop to further planting and to hide the fence to keep the farm animals out of the garden.

Tree and Hedge Planting in Rugeley

How to Plant an Avenue of Trees:

We decided to plant up the two hundred metre driveway with an avenue of trees. This was to make it look spectacular as you approached the main house. We chose two types to give additional interest in the different seasons. The first was Prunus shirofugen, this is a flowering cherry. It has won the Award of Garden Merit in 2002 and is considered by many to be the best of the flowering cherries. It has a rounded crown and grows up to ten metres tall, which is relatively small. Its large double white flowers finish pink contrasting well with the young copper foliage. Its floral display lasts a remarkably long time in comparison to other cherries.

The second tree to be planted alternately is Liquidambar styraciflua Worplesdon. Most sweet gums don’t fruit in our climate in England but this one does give extra interest later in the year. A winner of both 1987 and 2002 Award of Garden Merit is Blue Iris Landscapes favoured clone out of all the Liquidambar species. Its leaves are more deeply lobed, its form is pyramidal and its autumn colour is excellent.

Planning and Digging Out

Firstly, we marked out the position of every tree with small pegs. This took a number of hours but is worth it when they are all in line. These pegs represent the center of each hole. The trees were planted at seven-metre centers. The holes were 1m3 this was so we could back fill with tree top soil to give the trees the best start possible. A tree can only do as well as the soil it is planted in. With the trees ranging from £90 to £350 each, we wanted to give them every chance to establish and flourish.

As you can see we then boarded up around the hole. This is to keep damage to the surrounding grass to a minimum.

A little forethought can save a lot of time and effort in the long run. This is all part of the bespoke professional service we provide to our customers.

Planting the Trees

The hole is then back filled to about half full with a mixture of the original soil and tree top soil. The tree topsoil is a high-quality topsoil with the correct pH and nutrients for the trees. If cost is not so much of an issue then we use the tree top soil to backfill the entire hole. At this point, we then put in the water pipe. We use an 80mm perforated land drain pipe as this is perfect for getting the water down to the roots in the first year when it is most important.
The tree is then situated into the hole.

Once we are happy it is straight we then partially backfill the hole to hold the tree in situ and then we stake and tie the tree. The stakes and ties are important especially when the trees are taller. We aim to restrict the movement of the root ball. The top of the tree can sway in the wind as this will not hurt it at all. However, the root ball must not be allowed to move though.

Backfilling the Holes

As we backfill the hole we stamp the soil around the tree as we are going. This really secures the tree in place. It also removes air pockets that will kill the tree’s roots if the roots come into contact with the air pocket.

To get the soil from where we had it dumped we used a digger, our 3.5ton tipper trailer and a 6-ton dumper which we hired for the job. The pile of soil was huge, 150 tons. We then had another 50 tons delivered as the customer decided to have more trees and hedging.

Once this is done you then repeat it and have an avenue of trees. Obviously, when we plant trees we make sure that we plant them correctly and are mindful when excavating around existing trees. We also get a year’s guarantee from the tree nursery, to ensure there will be no problems for the customer. We also ensure that we protect your trees from wildlife like rabbits as they enjoy eating the bark off trees. As you can see from the photos to protect the trees we have put a black plastic tube at the base of the tree. This is to protect the bark from being eaten whilst they are young trees. This was just half of the tree and hedge planting job we completed, read on to learn more.

How to Plant a Beech Hedge:

As we were planting almost 2,000 plants on this job we used a digger to excavate the trenches. As this was much quicker than hand digging.

We dug the trench slightly deeper than it needed to be. This was to insert a water pipe so that the hedging could be watered quickly and efficiently. By putting the water pipe in you are also getting the water to the roots. As often overhead watering will cause the water to run off or only water the top 50mm rather than deeper where the roots are. This was bedded on the soil that was already there as, although, it was full of stones, it was a free-draining soil. We then surrounded the pipe with topsoil. To ensure the roots of the beech hedging would have a good medium to grow into. The hedging was then set out. We planted this hedge quite densely as the customer wanted an instant hedge as it was to hide the fence behind it.

The topsoil was well compressed around the roots of the beech hedging and finally, the hedge was watered.

Completion of the Tree and Hedge Planting Job

This project of tree and hedge planting near Rugeley, Staffordshire, was a great job to do. We planted 1900 beech hedging plants and 125 trees that were 4-5m tall. It took us five weeks to complete the job. Larger projects such as this tree and hedge planting make a pleasant change. This is compared to the smaller jobs that normally take between one and three weeks to do. Saying that some of the jobs we do just take one day.

Contact Us:

As professional gardeners in Rugeley we are happy to quote for any size gardening, tree and hedge planting job so please either phone us or send us your details on the contact page. Alternatively, why not follow us on Facebook and send us a message.