Cutting back Hedges

paperclap

Hi all,

We’ve some hedges running along the length of our back garden. I’d like to trim them back so we can regain more garden space (only by say, half a foot to a foot).

When is the best time / month / season to do this so I don’t kill the hedges?

Not sure on what the hedges actually are… so that’s helpful (not)!

Thanks.

Apodemus

Well... most deciduous hedges are best trimmed in winter when the plants are dormant, but if it is a conifer then chances are that you need to only take it as far as there is still green foliage and these could be done over the summer/early autumn.   If you post a picture, then you will probably get better advice.

MX5huggy

Hedge funds are a bit of specialist investment area not normally used by retail investors. 

As for your hedge, you really need to identify the plants, some will take virtually no trimming back (leylandii) others will take between 1 year and 10 years to recover well. 

MSE_Laura_F

I thought this might be best on the Greenfingered board so I've moved it and merged it with the duplicate.

Good luck @paperclap

MSE Laura F

Woolsery

Please ID your hedge first, then one or two of us will be able to advise properly. A close photo of the foliage will do it (usually!) if posted here.

twopenny

Impossible to say without a photo to identify.
Generally if you cut back in autumn you are looking at bare stuff all winter, if spring you get shooting quicker.

On the other hand if you trim the wrong stuff back too far it could a) take ages to recover b) just grow back to the same width.

droopsnoot

I've got hedges around two sides of the back garden which are quite overgrown, and I've been putting off cutting them back until now because of the possibility of nesting birds. It'll be annoying if I should have done them earlier in the year. I'd rather they looked green and nice rather than brown and dead, but I'd also like to be able to get past them more easily. I believe they're Leylandii, neither are mine.

Woolsery

If your hedges are leylandii, you cannot go into brown wood and get re-growth. It's as simple as that. You must leave enough green from which new fronds will grow.

Of course you are still at liberty to cut all the growth back to the boundary if you so wish. It's best to have a method in mind to hide  the unsightly dead stems, like putting a fence in front of them, or growing your own hedge. The latter will be tricky because of the leylandii roots drying out the soil and stealing nutrients.

droopsnoot

Oh, that's annoying, I wish I'd realised (or asked) that before they got so long. I'll have a bit of an experiment and see how far back the green is. It's probably about three years since they've been cut on this side. I haven't got room to grow a hedge on this side, and I don't really want the hassle of maintaining it.

ETA - I might have got away with it. I've just been out and trimmed the hedge across the back, and I can get pretty far in without hitting dead bits. There are one or two brown areas, but it's just the odd branch rather than a large section. The garden bin is almost full, so I'll wait to attack the one along the side until it's been emptied. Or maybe I'll do it while it's decent weather and just leave the clippings somewhere until there's room in the bin.

twopenny

Cover the clippings.

We've had unpredicted showers and the cloud seems to have caused dew already.

Horrible dealing with wet foliage

paperclap

Hi all,

I believe they’re privet hedges. But I’ll take a photo today to show.