This article will take you through everything you need to know about hedge trimming and pruning in your garden. By the end of this article, you will be able to tackle any gardening task!

Cutting Hedges

How and when you cut your hedge depends on the type of plant and the design of your garden.

To keep the form of the hedge, trim back any unkempt growth after the plant has bloomed, but remove branches with secateurs rather than shears to prevent the problem of clipped leaves decaying.

You should take care of formal hedges regularly to make sure they maintain a clean shape!

Low-growing box hedges can be trimmed with vertical sides, but hedges over 30cm tall should be tapered slightly towards the top to allow light to reach the bottom. This will make sure that the entire hedge grows.

Do’s and Don’ts of hedge trimming!

Don’t

Don’t trim your hedges when they are dry – It’s best to water your hedges the evening before a trim in the summer.

Quick Tip: If you’re after a super straight line, it’s always best to use a hedge trimming guide. The simplest technique to create a straight and level line to cut against is to stretch a length of thread between two poles. To guarantee a constant shape along the hedge, pitched, domed, and other complicated hedge forms may require a wooden template.

Do

Keep all your tools sharp and clean. Give the blades a wipe down after use, before storing them and maybe even a quick spray with an organic oil to help keep the blade from rusting!

Keep an eye out for birds that are building their nests. If you’re cutting your hedges make sure there aren’t any birds nesting in them.

Cutting hedges for the first time

You should start trimming hedges as soon as you plant them, especially with blooming shrubs and strong non-flowering shrubs like hawthorn and privet. Reduce the plant’s height by roughly one-third. If you do this when your plants are young, your will avoid your hedges being thin and weedy at the base.

The next autumn, trim back new growth by half and begin pruning hedge side shoots to the desired width. Side shoots should be trimmed by a third, while leading shoots should be allowed to develop. The hedge will appear frail but don’t worry! It will grow back stronger.

When the plants reach a few inches over the desired hedge height, clip them. This will encourage a lot of side shoots, and the hedge will thicken up fast.

Renovating old Hedges

Old hedges, especially privet hedges, can become lifeless in places and need some love and attention! Hedges that have been neglected may need to be trimmed back to a reasonable height and breadth so that they can grow back stronger and healthier.

Because privet is semi-evergreen, some leaf loss is natural in the winter, but if you have a lot of areas with twiggy shoots and few leaves, it’s probably best to cut the hedge back severely, deep into the old branches. Privet reacts well to this, and new branches will emerge shortly, which may be trimmed every few months to encourage them to bush out rather than grow straight up.

Within a few weeks, new growth will develop on the old branches. If you feed the hedge with a manure or compost mulch, it will encourage the young shoots will grow.