Turf banks require regular attention if they are to remain effective against livestock. Whether or not they are crowned with live hedges, and whether or not the live hedges are cut and laid, banks are subject to their own particular forms of abuse and decay:
- Strong prevailing winds, although they do no direct harm to a well-maintained bank, cause hedge trees on top to grow towards the lee side. Unless the hedge is laid so as to bring it back along the bank’s centre line, the lopsided growth may eventually topple and bring sections of the bank down with it.
- Soil slump exposes root tips, cutting off nourishment to the shrubs, weakening them and allowing wind to rock them.
- Trees, and to a lesser extent brambles and briars which have rooted in the steep sides of a tall bank tend to dislodge the turf by loosening it.
- Rabbits and rats can ruin a bank if allowed to burrow into it extensively.
- Cattle and sheep, being nosey, take advantage of any weak parts of a bank. They paw at the broken turf and scramble up it, accelerating the erosion. Sheep cause additional damage by digging out under the sheltered side of the hedge to escape heavy weather. Where the top growth is not dense, as on many South Western hedges, cattle may clamber to the top simply to find drier grazing.
Worn-out hollows and minor breaks in the turf become obvious when the hedge is given its annual trim. In parts of the South West where the banks become luxuriant with brambles and ivy, the bank as well as the hedge may be trimmed. Where conditions are harsh and vegetation slow-growing, or where the sides of the banks are grazed, this trimming is unnecessary, and instead the owner should make a point of periodically inspecting the condition of the turf. Where erosion is serious the bank should be fenced off from livestock, and repaired as soon as possible. Even where no major repairs are needed, it is best if every year or so fresh earth is cut out along a line at the base of the bank, and heaped on top, filling up any hollows which may have developed. In this way the bank is kept at the correct height and the trees growing along it are nourished. If a live hedge is to be laid in the near future and repairs are minor, it is best to wait and carry out the banking and turfing after the hedge has been cleaned and given its preliminary trim, but before it is laid.
Banks and bank maintenance vary from place to place. Banks may have one face or two. They may be a few inches high in north Wales, or as much as 6’ (2m) or more in the South West. The size and shape of turfs and the number of turfs needed for the job vary as well, along with local names for the turfs and the work. In parts of central Wales this work is called ‘ditching’, the ditch being the raised earth bank. Generally, the higher the bank the less important is any live growth on top, and the more developed are banking and turfing techniques, as opposed to hedge laying. Despite these variations, basic turfing skills are similar everywhere.
In the following pages, preliminary requirements are discussed first, followed by adaptations for group work and the techniques themselves. How to build a new bank is discussed briefly in Chapter 6 – Planting and early care. The specialised work of building a South Western turf hedge from the ground up is not described in this handbook. Aside from cutting and handling turf, which is described below, the work is similar to building a stone hedge, and is described in another handbook in this series, Dry Stone Walling.
