Problem is there’s an optimum height for hedges in grain growing areas … too high and in windy areas the effect of winds swirling over a high hedge and down into a standing field of grain can cause part of the crop to be bashed down so that it won’t stand again and can’t be harvested. It’s one of the reasons a lot of hedges were removed back in the day. 😒
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Also a question of rain and light next to the hedges @Hostafan1. Round here all the arable and pasture fields have hedges kept to about 2m or just a bit lower but on road sides with heavy traffic they're a bit higher.
Hedges also stop soil erosion - as many farmer who've ripped out hedges to let in huge machinery work more efficiently to till, sow and harvest . Now some are learning to add back loads of organic matter to improve soil quality and even re-planting hedges to stop wind erosion.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
There is also the probelm of hedges containing small trees providing roosts for woodpigeons ... the damage done to a field of brassicas by a relatively small number of woodpigeons sitting in the trees a round a field and popping down for breakfast lunch and dinner has to be seen to be believed.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
There was large scale hedgerow removal during and after the second world war. In
1947 the Agriculture act rewarded farmers financially for removing their
hedgerows. In 1950 a Forestry Commission assessment concluded that we had
1million km of hedgerow. By 2007 this was down to 477,000km, a loss of
about 52%.
Where arable crops dominate, field sizes were maximised to increase the
available cropping area and enable large-scale sowing and harvesting
machinery to be used. Trees were removed - often blown out with dynamite - where they got in the way.
I agree @Fire … my father was one of the farmers who removed hedgerows … but these weren’t removed to make vast prairies … some of our fields were less than half the size of @Hostafan1’s garden … it was impossible to use even the small machinery of the 1940/50s in fields of that size. This country had just been through a world war … we needed to be as self sufficient in food as possible and farmers had to produce as much food as possible … if they didn’t their farms could be requisitioned. A lot of farmers weren’t happy about some of the things they had to do … but they were told they were doing what was right and they had very little choice. Things were very different.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
For sure. The UK came very close to facing starvation in that time and it scared the bejeesus out of policy makers. They tried to make sure they would be self sufficient in basics there after. But the genuine food emergency took a terrible toll. We're still paying for it.
There are plenty of opportunities to rewild tiny bits of our cities. Locally I can think of hundreds of meters of potential hedges that could be planted around here on council land and I bet that the same all over the country. I think the philosophy of councils needs to change. I heard lots of stories where during lock down grass was left to grow and flower, we had the same around here but as soon as the buds were about to burst, they cut it all down. We thought a naturalistic approach was being made but it was just because they weren't working. The same approach goes for hedges with the flail of doom stripping any food or cover for birds when they really need it only to leave horrible jagged open wounds until they regrow in spring. Surely some simple education could contribute massively.
Interesting discussion! I recently read Bill Gates book where he discussed this topic widely. I was really shocked by how many trees we need to plant/maintain to make a dent on carbon levels - something I hadn’t realised! However, I do think we need to do everything we can as individuals and plant/ stop deforestation for co2/biodiversity.
Bill Gates quote: “To absorb the lifetime emissions that will be produced by every American alive today — just 4 per cent of the global population — you’d need to plant and permanently maintain trees on more than 16bn acres, roughly half the landmass of the world.
Yet if you’re a business leader looking to do something about climate change, planting trees looks like an attractive option. That’s not a failure on your part — it just means the world hasn’t given you a way to do something that has more impact.”
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hedges also stop soil erosion - as many farmer who've ripped out hedges to let in huge machinery work more efficiently to till, sow and harvest . Now some are learning to add back loads of organic matter to improve soil quality and even re-planting hedges to stop wind erosion.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I think the philosophy of councils needs to change. I heard lots of stories where during lock down grass was left to grow and flower, we had the same around here but as soon as the buds were about to burst, they cut it all down. We thought a naturalistic approach was being made but it was just because they weren't working. The same approach goes for hedges with the flail of doom stripping any food or cover for birds when they really need it only to leave horrible jagged open wounds until they regrow in spring. Surely some simple education could contribute massively.
“To absorb the lifetime emissions that will be produced by every American alive today — just 4 per cent of the global population — you’d need to plant and permanently maintain trees on more than 16bn acres, roughly half the landmass of the world.
Yet if you’re a business leader looking to do something about climate change, planting trees looks like an attractive option. That’s not a failure on your part — it just means the world hasn’t given you a way to do something that has more impact.”