gingerprince
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| posted on 28/3/20 at 11:43 AM |
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Overgrown Hedge
Now we're all stuck at home, it's time for me to look at trimming my bush 
So bought our new house late last year, and the hedge is in this state: -
 
Hedge
Obviously the previous owner has trimmed it as far as he can reach with his trimmer (a couple of metres), and neglected the top and it's
overgrown.
Any tips for cutting this back? Can it all go back to the top of the tidy bit in one go? Do I need to do it in stages? Will it look bare and never
be good unless I leave it taller?
Never had much of a garden until this house so it's a bit of a black art to me. Don't want to go hacking away with a saw if I'll
make it worse without following guidance.
Ta
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nick205
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| posted on 28/3/20 at 11:52 AM |
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Can't advise on the cutting.
Houses tend to have a rule where each house owns or is responsible for maintaining the hedge or boundary on one side along the line (ours is on the
left for example).
Worth checking before you make changes to it. It should say in your property deeds. If you ask neighbours it can start all sorts of
"discussions" with them (often best avoided).
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gingerprince
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| posted on 28/3/20 at 11:57 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Worth checking before you make changes to it. It should say in your property deeds. If you ask neighbours it can start all sorts of
"discussions" with them (often best avoided).
It's definitely our hedge - the fence behind it is the border, the hedge is on our side of the fence.
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trextr7monkey
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| posted on 28/3/20 at 12:06 PM |
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Looks like a well established healthy hedge with loads of fresh growth on top. You could knock it back in one go but there will be a lot of gaps in
the top which will fill in in a couple of years. Fine if you don’t need to look at it.
If you straighten off the front in line with fence and knock a couple of feet off the top this year it will thicken a bit more then you can keep
chopping it down over the next few years in stages. That would look better.
We have got beech and leylandii hedges and have tried both ways to re model them.
HTH
Mike
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14016102@N00/ (cut and paste this dodgey link)
Our most recent pics are here:
http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p211/trextr7monkey/
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larchtree
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| posted on 28/3/20 at 12:09 PM |
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Hi
You should be fine, decide what height you prefer then trim with cutters, looks to me as if the trunk/branches are probably not too thick, still more
of a bush than a tree!
Dave
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big_wasa
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| posted on 28/3/20 at 12:32 PM |
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I just went across the top of the neighbors with a chain saw  and took 4ft in one go. It now gets a quick trim in the spring and autumn. The top
didn’t look great for the first year.
Anything over 6ft is a waste and just blocks everyone’s light.
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theconrodkid
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| posted on 28/3/20 at 03:14 PM |
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i was in a similar situation, i bought a hedge trimmer and chain saw on an extension, gave up in the end and had a couple of blokes come round, they
did it with the proper gear and disposed of the trimmings for the same money i wasted on the trimmer and chainsaw.
who cares who wins
pass the pork pies
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SteveWalker
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| posted on 28/3/20 at 03:33 PM |
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We heavily cut back a privet hedge one year, shortly before Christmas. It obviously looked very bare, but new growth re-covered it in the spring.
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 28/3/20 at 04:24 PM |
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Box or privet hedges will recover after pruning, but cypress never will - they will always look horrible after pruning. They need to be trimmed
regularly at the required height whenever they reach it, just snipping out the main leader shoot. If they're well over-height, you might as
well dig them out and start again.
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John G
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| posted on 28/3/20 at 07:46 PM |
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Agent Orange!
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mcerd1
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| posted on 28/3/20 at 10:30 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by gingerprince
Now we're all stuck at home, it's time for me to look at trimming my bush
I'm going to have to do the same soon - but mine is Pyracantha so its always a massive PITA to cut
If you've never heard of it before all you need to know is its got lots and lots of very sharp, long thorns - strong enough to got right
thorough your gloves or boots and even puncture tyres
The little birds seem to love it though, I guess its cause the cats can't get anywhere near them - I'm just amazed they can fly into it
and not end up minced...
Personally I've never been a fan of hedges like yours, they really do block out all the light and dry up the soil at the base so nothing else
can grow too
If it was my hedge I'd look at replacing it with a mixture of different plants - preferably ones with edible fruit (I find gardening much more
enjoyable when you can eat it  ) - just search for edible hedging or as you've got a fence behind it maybe some fan or espalier trained
fruit tree's instead
I planted a couple to apple trees a few years back (young bare rooted plants cost ~£20 each) - they now produce about 25 to 45kg of apple each and
take about 1 hour of maintenance to prune them back each year when they are dormant - I reckon thats a pretty good return  (assuming you like
apples of course)
[Edited on 28/3/2020 by mcerd1]
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mark chandler
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| posted on 29/3/20 at 06:45 PM |
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When mine when out of control, ladder up the side and took 4’ off the top, cutting is easy the clearing up is the pain!
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Simon
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| posted on 29/3/20 at 07:03 PM |
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Bloke at the bottom of our garden is a bit of a nob so I'll trim HIS conifer hedge on our side (which does get rather overgrown) and put all the
trimmings back over the fence, either that or he pays someone to come into my garden and do a proper job.
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BenB
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| posted on 29/3/20 at 07:55 PM |
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Don't stick them over the fence. Despite popular belief that's against the law in most situations... You have to ask what they want done
with them as they remain their property. If you just dump them over the hedge its fly-tipping.
[Edited on 29/3/20 by BenB]
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McLannahan
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| posted on 30/3/20 at 10:18 AM |
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Don't put it off....
We now have this challenge to sort. Previous owners hacked off what they could reach. I just wish they'd left it alone! As mentioned - hacked
off branches won't grow back. We now have this situation where they can't really be trimmed down as it would just leave a trunk with a few
whispy branches on the top!
I think our only option is complete removal but not only does this cost a LOT, but we would then lose the privacy and have increased noise...
 
Nightmare conifer
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 30/3/20 at 10:58 AM |
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Whoever planted that probably thought that it would be nice to have a low conifer hedge... and bought the wrong variety.
I got rid of about 20 conifers after they were damaged in the 1987 storm. It was a lot easier than I expected - cut everything off, leaving a 6 foot
bare stump. Dug around the base with a mattock (a most useful tool for digging up tree roots) until I was able to use the stump as a big lever to
heave it out. I found that conifer roots are quite shallow - they go sideways rather than down.
The biggest problem was disposing of the branches - they burn easily, but a neighbour wasn't impressed as he was painting his windows at the
time! (ash everywhere). The main part was sawn up and taken to the tip in a trailer.
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James
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| posted on 30/3/20 at 03:23 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Can't advise on the cutting.
Houses tend to have a rule where each house owns or is responsible for maintaining the hedge or boundary on one side along the line (ours is on the
left for example).
Worth checking before you make changes to it. It should say in your property deeds. If you ask neighbours it can start all sorts of
"discussions" with them (often best avoided).
I'm of the opposite school on this- frequent, friendly and open communications leads to better relations with neighbours.
I'm about to grub out a section of our boundary that is hedge and replace with fence. It's definitely our boundary. But I've already
spoken with the neighbour to 'run it by her' and explain what's going on- far better that than falling out with her over a stupid
hedge!!!
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"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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