In 2021 Almighty Tree planted these first living hedges in collaboration with farmers
After the arrival of large agricultural machinery in the 60s and 70s, the living hedges were quickly cleared from farmland in order to facilitate the exploitation.
These living hedges have a major environmental impact, an important role in biodiversity, soil consolidation and riverbanks, protection against wind and landscape diversity.
What is a living hedge
A hedge is a fence of various heights made up of trees, shrubs, thorns or branches. A living hedge constitutes a border, an edge between two spaces that it serves to delimit, it is an intermediate medium between a small wood and a massif for example or inside an agricultural plot. Its interface role is very interesting from a floristic and faunistic point of view.
Indeed, a living hedge can become the ideal place to raise a brood of chicks, or to feed...
Role of the living hedge
The living hedge is an ecosystem in itself. It is an attractive refuge for many birds, mammals and insects that come to sleep, nest, socialize, feed and protect themselves. The fauna and microfauna can circulate there without too much danger. Genetic mixing is better (since animals can move over long distances) and populations are more vigorous and resistant.
Among the many benefits of the living hedge, we note that it protects from the wind, reduces temperature differences, regulates humidity and plays an important role in the climatic balance. At the edge of forests, these layered groups of bushes and shrubs also guarantee protection against storms. Without forgetting that it has an inescapable role on our landscapes.
Species planted in a living hedge
🌱Ivy : the only one that still gives pollen to bees in late October-early November. And to provide safe shelter.
🌱Hawthorns : this is one of the shrubs that harbors the most beneficial insects (up to 150 species have been counted).
🌱Holly : the ideal shelter, which, with its prickly and evergreen leaves protects birds from predators and rain.
🌱Bird's sorrel : the berries remain on the tree for a long time, which is a valuable food reserve in winter.
🌱Wild cherry tree : an assurance of having robins as hötes between May and June, nesting dates and a guarantee of fidelity
🌱Amelanchier : you'll compete with the birds for the berries from the beginning of June: they taste like ripe mirabelle plums
🌱Pheasant tree : an original flowering, which lasts several months, followed by tasty berries for fruit-eating birds.
Also... Black thorn, Male dogwood , Lantana violet, Black elder, Wild apple tree, Wild pear tree, Black cherry tree, Hedge honeysuckle, Rosehip, Marsault willow, Red wicker,...
Support to local farmers
Living hedges are of great importance for the promotion of biodiversity in Swiss agriculture. Trees play an important role in the Swiss agricultural landscape. They produce wood and fruit and provide environmental services in the areas of biodiversity and soil and water protection.
The many benefits for agricultural land:
- Preservation of biodiversity
- Better agricultural yields
- New potential sources of crops
- Improved fertility with increased CO2 content in the soil
In 2022, Almighty Tree wishes to promote the planting of living hedges in order to promote agroforestry and to do good to nature.
