Hedge Maze - Design and Planting

In order for us to calculate the correct number of plants needed to go into the hedge maze we first needed a design - preferably to scale.So, I measured up the area using a straight line of twine pegged into the ground at the dissecting the site in two. I then used a measuring tape held at at 90degree angle from the line at 50cm intervals to record the distance to the edges and obstacles within the proposed maze.

From this data I created a scale plan view of the area - give or take a few cm here and there, it was moderately accurate. And I rather enjoyed the whole process :)

Scale plan view of proposed maze area

I then passed this plan on to Ali who drew up the final design for the maze and calculated how many plants were needed. (Sadly I don't have a copy of the design!!)

We were originally going to use the same coprosmas as the existing hedges, and we did take cuttings, but they will take a couple of years to grow. So Rewi ordered in some ready grown corokias to use instead.

So now we were ready to lay out the maze and get planting!!!

Ali drew the design on the ground and I placed all the plants
along the design.

I had to make sure that the spacing for each plant was going to be adequate
to allow for it to have enough room for it to grow, but also to be close
enough to not have any gaps in the maze.

When we were happy with the placing, now began the
 task of planting them all.

View of the maze entrance

Grow my pretties, grow!!!!

Hedge maze preparation

Today Ali, Patrick (Gateway student) and I continued work on the hedgemaze and we made really good progress.

The site has already been cleared of weeds and other desirable plants have been
transplanted elsewhere. One corner of the site needs to retain its current theme and
planting to tie in with the Rainshadow theme of the rest of the garden area, so we  marked
off the area with large rocks around the border. 

The ground, having previously design in the riverbed style, was full of stones, so I collected
 as many as possible in a bucket to make the soil easier to work with and level out.

The completed large stone border. Each stone is buried to half its depth so that it is anchored in
 the ground and won't move around. 

We then leveled and raked the site to remove the worst of the humps from the previous
 landscaping style. The soil needed to compacted after raking so we walk/shuffled
 over it to pack it down.

Completed border. Coprosma rigida will be planted the other side of the border to form the outside wall of the maze.

Entrance way to the maze with a step up and flat stone at the mouth.
The Pittosporum obcordatum has been clipped to form an archway over the
 entrance and another P. obcordatum will the planted in the adjacent bed to finish the archway.

6 Coprosma rigidas were planted along the border edge next to the pathway to provide
the outer wall of the maze, they were place approx 70cm apart and are expected to grow
 up 1m in height. These will be clipped on the outward and inside faces into a straight
edge. Here the new plantings are being watered in.

After watering, I gave all the new plants a drink of Thrive fertilizer. This is a soluble power
fertilizer to be mixed with water - 1 spoon measure per 4.5 litres of water.
This mixture fed 14 plants.

When the site was fully prepared before we put in any plants I measured up the area to plot onto a plan. This will help us be able to design the maze and give us a good idea of how many plants are going to be needed, and where to put them.