A kitchen garden is always a joy to behold but it becomes even more special if edged with a neat box hedging. Obviously a hedge, even if small, takes up some soil space and will compete for nutrients and water but if your soil is good and you can keep improving it then you shouldn’t have too many problems. You can keep box hedging very compact but you need to choose the right variety. Buxus sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’ is the one to choose for a really compact habit. This can be kept at 30cm (12in) high. Plant about three per metre run or if you want a quicker hedge then five per metre run. You can buy them bare rooted or pot grown. Bare rooted ones are only available April/May.
There is one drawback to box hedging and that is the dreaded fungal disease box blight which can cause brown patches and die back of the hedge. One way to minimize infection is it to keep the hedge a bit more open and not pruned too hard to allow air movement. Cleaning the pruning tools regularly is helpful and there are some fungal sprays you can apply before you see blight to help keep it at bay.
As an alternative you could grow Ilex crenata, the Japanse holly. It looks similar to box with tiny glossy leaves and has white flowers in spring. It is generally even tougher than box so ideal for more northern gardens and can be kept quite small.
