Andrew Oldham explains how dead foliage can be used in and around the garden to the benefit of the living.
Plants, both living, and dead are miraculous things. There are some out there that can kill a person (such as the yew), herbs that will firm the skin (like ladies mantle) and trees that cure headaches (willow and feverfew), but we don’t always see that dead foliage has a use beyond shredding, burning, and mulching. The idea of a dead garden is something we associate with the untidy, the unloved or the depths of winter. Yet, there is no such thing as a dead garden when you consider that the deceased and detached can form extremely valuable habitats for the living. From bug to frog, bird to mammal, to us for reliable natural pest control on our plots.
Death clears the land and gives us produce
When we pluck the tomato, it technically ceases to be alive, but an old market gardener’s trick of planting a whole tomato, letting nature take its course, means you’ll end up with lots more tomato plants. Our ancestors knew the importance of life and death when managing the land, from farmland to wood, from coppice to charcoal. Everything had a use.
Earlier last year I reconnected with the marvellous potential of hedge cuttings. For years, like many, I would shred and mulch, burn and scatter ash with my hedge clippings. I thought I was ecologically sound doing this. The idea of running a lawnmower over the hedge clippings to break them down for the compost heap seemed clever, until that is I embraced the concept of the dead hedge. I’ll admit this happened because I haven’t been able to cut my hedges the last few years because of my disability. Then I sold my old petrol mower, and the die was cast. It had all got a little out of hand however so in the depths of winter I decided I would reduce the height of my towering hornbeam, hazel, and hawthorn hedges to something manageable. I told my neighbour who I had not seen for years, due to the height of the hedge ( a mere six feet on his side of the boundary line and an oppressive eight feet on my side), that I would be cutting the hedges back hard.
Winter is the best time to cut back an herbaceous hedge
It creates less of a shock for the plant, allowing you to assess and decide where to make cuts because there is no tricky foliage hiding things. Taking out dead, diseased, or decaying stems and branches is good practice for all plants. It works well on any herbaceous hedge and if you are concerned you can do it in stages, first reducing the width on one si
