The Edible Hedge

There are many good reasons to add a fence or hedge to your property; it helps keeps kids and pets in, it lends privacy and defines property lines and a hedge or fence can even add beauty to the site. However, why limit yourself to just these options; think about adding another, the hedge as a food source.

If you already have a chain link fence around your property think about growing fruit bearing shrubs such as June berries , also known as Saskatoons or service berries and formally referred to as Amelanchier alnifolia.

The Juneberry is a relative of the rose and the blueberry, both of which are good alternatives to chain link or other fences,

You may want to think about planting them all close to each other so that you can pick fresh fruit in season and have a fence in place all year round. Blueberries can do well in a soil with a ph between 4.5 sand 5.5 and rose require between 5.5 and 6.5 so it can work.

The rose in question here is a personal favourite the Rugosa Rose (Rosa rugosa). This beauty is hardy in zones 3 to 9. It will reach eight feet tall under the right conditions, is great to look at and in the red or pink flowers are edible.

The Rugosa’s hips are also very tasty and loaded in vitamin C; if you are looking for a plant to keep unwanted intruder at bay this baby’s thorns will discourage most unwanted visitors.

This rose will spread and your main problem may well be in controlling its spread.

A fence that is created from shrubs and other living plants has been nicknamed a fedge or a living fence. The careful selection of the plants that form the fedge will provide not only beauty and a barrier but food.

Think about it, you are sitting in your backyard perhaps having a BBQ and after enjoy the burgers or steak walk over to the fence and pick yourself some blueberries or serviceberries for desert.

There are a number of shrubs that will do the job what you need to decide is how much work do you want to do to maintain the living hedge, what will grow where you are and over winter and how tall do you want your fence to get?

The fedge will appeal to the gardener who wants a fence but is also looking for a way to incorporate more shrubs into the garden without reducing available lawn space.