weeds in newly planted hedge row

Have recently planted 5km of native british hedgerow, mainly hawthorn, any suggestions on how to organically control weeds round the plants which are less than a metre tall

 

Mulch. A couple of inches deep x 5km, you shouldn't need more than.....a lot!
Failing that, hands and knees pulling them out

 

I think the hedge will eventually outdo the weeds, might look a bit poor at the moment but it sounds like a long term project.

 

You could use a hoe. By the time you have it weeded once you could probably go back to the beginning of the 5k and start again. I left the area under a much shorter horn beam and white thorn hedge length go unweeded for too long and needed a mattock to get rid of the weed sods which is a bit more work but cleared the problem well and after the first year I have just left the weeds alone as the hedge plants seem settled enough to outgrow them. Places where I just left the hedge plants with no attention had them choked a bit by grass and brambles and while the white thorn are still alive they have not established as a hedge or grown very much.

 

Most trees surgeons will sell you woodchips. Ideally they'd drive along the 5km and drop a pile every few metres. They're unlikely to have enough immediately, of course, but you can book them to drop off whatever they get over the course of the year.