Hedge Under Pine

Question

Hi there, We recently moved to our new home and cleared out a garden what has been neglected for 20 yrs – UK (Scotland). Have a Norway spruce and a scots pine tree at the end of the garden where we need to add hedging. I was thinking of planting native types (hazel, elder, beech and dog rose) however I’m not sure they would be okay under our 2 pine trees as the soil is fully covered with pine needles (guess it needs to be removed before planting the hedge) but it will be pine needles later on too and don’t know how it would affect the soil, drainage, etc. Could you please share thoughts if we can plant these type of hedging? Thanks for your time.

Answer 1

Make sure you aren't planting so close to the trees that you will be disturbing their root zones. The best thing you can do is put mulch under trees out to the dripline.

Hazel, elder, beech and dog rose all prefer or tolerate acidic soil so should be fine nearby.