Dead hedge and (tiny) nettle bed

June 2025

It's taken six months to get to the point where I can plant the native nettles that have been sitting in pots at the top of the garden and I've learnt a good lesson: There's a lot less planting to do if the nettles you bought from the Moths and Butterflies of New Zealand plant sale, carefully potted on and cared for before taking up the garden near the planting site before ignoring, die due to too little or too much rain. So number 10 on the project plan is not as big a job as it was meant to be.

10. Need to plant nettle field and construct barriers.

The barrier was built in a much more timely fashion, probably because hubby created it. I've mentioned in the post about picking a site for the nettles that the top of the garden had a lot of debris that made working up there difficult. There was also a large pile of debris in the top corner that needed dealing with. Whilst debris is an important element of an ecosystem, it was getting in the way of clearing the invasive ginger, so it needed managing. What better way of helping nature, preventing kids running into a nettle patch and stopping the debris being a trip hazard than to build a dead hedge.

The newly constructed dead hedge

A dead hedge is simply a barrier made from sticking retaining stakes in the ground, say some straight branches, in a rectangle shape and then stacking brush, branches and pruning matter in between. The hedge can be as long or short as you like and you have control over the width as well. Hubby used stakes cut from bamboo that had spread from a neighbouring property and cut them at an angle to help drive them into the ground. He made the hedge back in February and it has already decayed down, ready for more branches on top. Hopefully it provides a wind break for the nettles so admiral butterflies can lay eggs comfortably, as well as shelter for overwintering insects. Apparently they may also attract small nesting birds, in the same way as a live hedge, so we'll see.

We are not allowed to build bonfires in urban/suburban Auckland, so this is one way to manage the debris from trees. Hubby has also invested in a wood chipper and chipped what was left of the debris in the corner. I've since used the wood chips as mulch on the garden borders. We also have a compost heap and he's been running recent tree prunings through the chipper and then leaving the green/brown mix to compost down. Basically, we've got our bases covered. It'll all go back into the soil one way or another. The dead hedge is the most ecologically friendly though, but a lot less fun for a man who loves his power tools.

There weren't too many weeds to pull before planting, as I had cleared the area ahead of the dead hedge being built, but I still managed to pull moth plant and ginger. The seeds are coming in from somewhere, but the house at the top of the garden is neat as a pin, so they are probably blowing in from further away. What we have in abundance - as well as weeds - is wind.

I planted the Chatham Island nettle right next to the dead hedge, as it will be the bigger nettle. The bush nettle went a little way away into a shadier spot. A couple of weeks on and they are both looking happy. It's not the recommended four square metre nettle field I need to raise admiral butterflies, but it's a start.

Chatham Island nettle next to dead hedge