June 14

The gardener who wishes to grow a hedge should expect it to take time.  It is an exercise in patience.  Rewards will be in five to ten years from initiation, if they start from cuttings.  Little wonder that many homeowners put up walls.

The generation born since the 1980s grew up with the personal computer.  They have seen Moore's Law in action, in which computer chips have grown faster and faster every year since their invention.  Increased computing power has turned into increased capability with profound consequences for almost every aspect of our social fabric.  One of the impacts has been an expectation of instant responsiveness, which is habit-forming.  This ability to query anything and find an immediate answer in real time has positively changed our lives, but it also brings with it the risk of short termism.  There are aspects to our lives that require long-term thinking, planning and implementation.  

If a plant is selected for your hedge that produces berries, it will feed birds, provide them with a place to nest and the roots will help slow runoff during wet periods.  Pruning provides biomass for the compost heap.  But there is no quick way to get from a small three inch cutting to a hedgerow without patience.  Just taking cuttings in large enough numbers, waiting for them to root, then become established in pots before planting in the ground will take 18 months.  It will take another three or four years from these little plants to begin to knit together and another three to four more to form a tall impenetrable barrier. 

This kind of pacing towards progress is the kind of patience needed to start a savings account for retirement, paying off debt, changing habits like eating and fitness, and perfecting a craft or skill.

I advocate gardeners living in this time of instant answers to queries to start a hedge. It will remind your clock of nature's time.