A website from UGA Cooperative Extension

Welcome to the new DeKalb County ANR blog!  

My name is Caston Noorullah and I am one of the UGA Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Agents for Dekalb County. I am creating this blog to inform and hopefully create a dialogue between myself and the residents of DeKalb County.  

This is my very first blog post anywhere, so I want to thank you for being here and taking the time to read it. I thought I’d start by sharing some information about one of my favorite winter gardening projects. If you are anything like me you need to have some outdoor activities to feel balanced, especially in the winter! Luckily for me, a couple of months ago some trees were cut down across the street for some new construction. While I wasn’t very happy to wake up to the sound of chainsaws, I was glad to see the huge stack of limbs and branches all piled up, especially after they were left there for weeks and weeks and I realized they were fair game.  

This situation gave me a great excuse to build one of my favorite garden structures- a dead hedge! While the name might not entice you, it really is a great winter project and addition to your garden.  

A dead hedge is a fence-like structure made from sticks and limbs and is a great way to add a structural element to your garden. It’s easy to build, uses up yard waste, and even provides food and shelter for wildlife. When it does eventually degrade, it breaks down into great organic matter for your soil. What’s more, it is a totally free alternative to traditional fencing!  

A dead hedge is built by using thicker sticks to create 2 lines of stakes, think of them like fence posts, running parallel to each other. I set mine about 2 or 3 feet apart. The space between your 2 posts will be the thickness of your “hedge.” I do about a foot between the two rows. Make sure these stakes are secure in the ground. You can sharpen the ends of the stakes or use a shovel to make a hole in the ground and a mallet to pound them about a foot into the ground. The next part is easy. Take the thinner sticks and lay them between the 2 posts. Secure them between the 2 lines of stakes and layer them on top of each other until you get a dense thick “hedge.” If there is more flexible material available, like freshly pruned branches, weave them between.  You can keep adding to your hedge as you prune and find more material throughout the year.  

The nooks and crannies created by layering the limbs of your dead hedge create little habitats for insects, which attracts birds and other wildlife. Birds may even nest in the hedge too!  

I have seen ideas for adding some color and curb appeal to your dead hedge by growing a native vine along it. Consider adding Carolina Jessamine or Trumpet honeysuckle to your garden, using your new dead hedge as support.  

My plan is to use my dead hedge to delineate a flower bed that I will sow in the spring. The area I chose is along a parking spot in the front of my home, so creating a structure to protect flowers is important for this site. I am planning on building another one in my backyard to create an area for a compost heap as well. 

 Have you ever tried building a dead hedge before? Will you try? 

I hope this inspires you to give this project a try for yourself! I would love to hear your thoughts about dead hedges, and what you’d be interested in learning more about.  

(image source: gardening.org)
(image source: gardening.org)
(image source: www.rspb.org.uk)
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3 responses to “Building a Dead Hedge- Enhance Your Garden with a Unique Winter Project”

  1. Lisa Gianelly

    Thanks for the information, clear instructions, and inspiration. I learned about dead hedges in an English gardening book this winter and am looking forward to building one soon.

  2. Ev Whalen

    Looks good. Less messy than a pile of dead limbs, although wildlife can use a wood pile as well.

    Why not build a dead hedge box for your compost pile?

    1. Caston Noorullah

      Yes, that is a great use for a dead hedge!

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