I want to plant a new hedge in Rochester. What do I actually need to know before I spend any money?

Q. When is the right time of year to plant a hedge in Rochester?

A. The main planting window for bare-root hedging is November through to mid-March, when the plants are dormant and the nurseries have the best stock at the lowest prices. That is the window I tell most people to aim for. Pot-grown plants can technically go in year-round, but I would still aim for autumn or early spring to avoid the dry Kent summers. If you are planting hawthorn, blackthorn or hazel for a native hedgerow, mid-autumn is ideal because the soil is still warm enough for the roots to settle before the hard weather arrives. Try to plant into wet ground after rain rather than into soil that has dried out hard, which is a real risk in Rochester's chalk gardens in September and October.

Q. Does it matter whether I buy bare-root plants or pot-grown ones?

A. For most standard hedging species, bare-root is what I would choose. It is considerably cheaper, the selection in November and December is far wider, and the plants establish well because you are planting at the right time with no root disturbance. The trade-off is the narrower window. Pot-grown plants give you flexibility, and if May is when you have the time and the budget, they will work, but you need to water consistently through the first summer or you will lose them to drought. Pot-grown plants cost more, and it is easy to lose a good number of them in a dry July if the watering falls away. For a new front boundary on, say, Frindsbury or Borstal Hill, I would generally say: go bare-root in November and put the saving towards a good mulch.

Q. How far apart do I plant them, and how deep?

A. Spacing depends on the species, but for most formal hedging, yew, beech, hornbeam, laurel, one plant every 30 to 45 centimetres gives you a hedge that fills in within a few seasons. Native mixed hedgerow species like hawthorn can go up to 45 or even 60 centimetres apart if you want a looser, wilder result. Depth matters more than people realise: plant at exactly the same level the plant sat in the nursery row or pot, no deeper. You can see the soil mark on bare-root whips. Planting too deep is one of the most common reasons I see newly planted hedges fail, the collar rots and the plant never really gets going. The RHS say the same thing in their planting guides, and I have seen it confirmed in enough gardens around Rochester to trust it.

Q. My garden is on the chalk up near Nashenden. Does that change how I go about planting?

A. It changes your preparation more than your method. On chalk ground, as you find on the higher parts of Rochester, I would add a generous amount of organic matter to the planting strip before the plants go in. Well-rotted compost or garden compost dug into the full length of the trench, not just into individual holes. Chalk drains fast and holds very few nutrients, and newly planted hedging on bare, unimproved chalk struggles badly in its first summer. Down nearer the river, where the ground is heavier and wetter, the issue reverses: make sure drainage is adequate and do not plant into waterlogged ground. A well-prepared, metre-wide planting strip with the weeds removed beats digging individual holes every time, on both soil types. See our species choice Q&A for more on how the chalk and clay split across Medway affects which hedge you should actually be planting in the first place.

Q. What actually kills most newly planted hedges in the first year or two?

A. Drought in the first summer, almost every time. People plant in November, congratulate themselves, and then forget about it when the dry weather hits in June and July. Bare-root whips put in the previous autumn have a small root system and cannot chase moisture in a dry spell the way an established plant can. I always recommend mulching the full planting strip immediately after planting, around 10 centimetres of wood chip or bark mulch kept clear of the stems, and watering in any dry spell through the first and second growing seasons. The second summer is the one that catches people out more than the first: the plant looks fine, survived the winter, surely it is safe now. It is not necessarily. Weed competition is the other one. Grass and weeds growing right against the base of new hedging competes for water and slows establishment badly. Keep the metre-wide planting strip clear for at least the first two years.

Q. When should I start trimming a new hedge, and does the nesting season law apply even to young plants?

A. Light formative pruning in the first couple of years is what builds the bushy base you want. I cut newly planted hedging back by around a third in the first winter after planting to encourage low branching from the base, because a hedge that starts branching low is far easier to maintain than one that goes leggy at the bottom. After that, a light trim each season keeps the shape filling. As for the nesting law: yes, it applies to any vegetation, not only established hedges. Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence to damage or destroy an active bird's nest, with an unlimited fine, up to six months in prison, or both, and not checking first leaves you in a weak position to argue the harm was unintended. Even a row of bare whips planted last autumn can hold a nest by March. The nesting season runs roughly 1 March to 31 August. We always do a visual check immediately before any cut, however small the plants are, and we will not cut in that window if there is any doubt. Our timing and nesting-season Q&A covers this in more detail if you want the full picture on when different species should and should not be cut.

Q. I am in the Rochester Conservation Area. If I want to clear out an old overgrown hedge and replant with something new, do I need to give any notice first?

A. It depends on whether the existing hedge contains trees that cross the threshold under section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. If the hedge has any trees with a stem diameter over 75 millimetres, measured at 1.5 metres height, you are legally required to give Medway Council six weeks' written notice before carrying out any work to them, including removal. That is Medway as the unitary authority, not Kent County Council. The hedge as a plant structure is generally not protected under tree-preservation law in its own right, but the individual stems within it can be once they reach that size. Planting a new hedge does not itself require permission. The risk is in what you remove to make way for it. If you are in any doubt at all, get the stems measured before you start, not after. Our Conservation Area Q&A covers the notice process and what happens if you get this wrong.