Creating Shelterbelts with Hardy Native Trees

Why a Shelterbelt Earns Its Place on an Exposed Site

If your plot sits on a windswept ridge, a coastal field or the shoulder of a hill, you will already know what wind does to a garden. It scorches leaves, snaps stems, strips blossom, dries out soil and makes the business of simply standing outside a chore. A shelterbelt is the answer, and it works best when built from trees that have been coping with British weather for thousands of years.

A well-designed belt does not stop the wind dead. It filters it. Aim for roughly 50–60 per cent permeability so that some air passes through the planting. A solid, impermeable barrier simply forces the wind up and over, then drops it back down as damaging turbulence on the sheltered side. A porous belt, by contrast, calms the airflow and gives you useful protection for a distance of roughly ten to twenty times the height of the trees. Twenty feet of hazel and hawthorn can therefore shelter a good stretch of garden or orchard.

Choosing the Right Native Mix

Four species will do most of the heavy lifting, and each brings something different to the row.

• Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) — the backbone of any British shelterbelt. It is fiercely wind-hardy, tolerates salt spray, clips and lays beautifully, and offers dense, thorny growth that few animals will push through.
• Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) — a slender, upright tree that copes with poor, thin soils and altitude. Its autumn berries feed redwings and fieldfares, and its timber has long been prized for tool handles and spinning wheels.
• Hazel (Corylus avellana) — quick to establish, generous with catkins in late winter, and the finest coppicing wood in the country for hurdles, peasticks and beanpoles.
• Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) — the tall, evergreen element. It gives you shelter in winter when the deciduous trees are bare, holds the structure together, and provides roosts and nesting cover for birds.

Add a few extra species if you have room: blackthorn for early sloe blossom and impenetrable nesting cover, field maple for autumn colour, holly for a dense evergreen core.

Designing Staggered Rows

Plant in three to five rows, arranged so the tallest trees sit on the leeward side and the toughest shrubs face the weather. Put hawthorn and blackthorn in the windward row, hazel and rowan behind them, and Scots pine at the back.

Staggering is the trick that makes the whole thing work. Rather than lining trees up in straight columns, offset each row so that the plants sit in the gaps of the row in front. This breaks up the airflow evenly and avoids funnel-like channels where wind accelerates through. Space them at 1.5–2 metres within the row and 2–3 metres between rows, allowing extra room for the pines, which will eventually need five metres or more.

Run the belt at right angles to the prevailing wind, which for most of the UK means roughly south-west. On a slope, plant across the contour rather than up and down it. Leave a small gap at the very bottom of the belt if frost collects in your hollow — a completely sealed base can create a frost pocket that damages the very plants you are trying to protect.

Planting and the First Three Years

Bare-root plants are cheaper, establish faster and are the right choice for a shelterbelt. Order them for delivery between November and March, and get them in the ground while they are still dormant. Never plant into frozen or waterlogged soil; heel them in temporarily if conditions turn against you.

Prepare a strip rather than individual holes. Clear a metre-wide band of grass and weeds along each row, fork over the topsoil and add a little well-rotted compost. Plant to the same depth the tree was growing in the nursery, firm gently with your heel and water in well. Then:

• Fit a spiral guard or mesh sleeve against rabbits and deer — a few pounds of guard against years of regrowth.
• Mulch with bark chip to a depth of 5–7 cm, keeping it clear of the trunk collar.
• Keep a weed-free circle around each plant for the first two or three summers. Weed competition is the single biggest cause of failure.
• Water deeply in dry spells during the first two years, then leave the trees to it.

You should see real shelter developing within five to seven years from hazel and hawthorn, with the pines taking a decade or so to reach full height. Begin formative pruning early to encourage bushy growth rather than a single leggy stem.

Hedgerow Crafts from Your Own Belt

Once established, a native shelterbelt becomes a working resource. Hazel coppiced on a seven to ten-year rotation yields straight rods for wattle hurdles, thatching spars, peasticks and beanpoles. Cut in winter while the sap is down and the wood is at its most pliable.

Hawthorn is the traditional hedging plant for laying. Pleaching — partly cutting through the stem and bending it over at an angle — produces a dense, stock-proof barrier that will outlive any fence. Rowan wood, hard and fine-grained, suits carving and handles, while its berries make a sharp, ruby-coloured jelly to serve with game. Even the pine earns its keep: fallen needles make an excellent mulch for acid-loving plants, and the trunks give you a lifetime's supply of firewood and kindling.

Plant a shelterbelt and you are investing in something that will outlast you — a windbreak, a larder, a nesting site and a source of craft material, all from species that belong here.