It’s enough to cause curtains to twitch and neighbours to gossip – make a poor job of pruning your garden hedge and everyone will know about it. Make an excellent job, however, and you’ll be held in high regard by all who walk by. It’s easy to fall into this enviable latter group of local heroes, all it takes is a little know how.
- First things first, make sure your tools are razor-sharp. Either take to them with a file if you’re competent or, if not, get them serviced. A tell-tale sign of blunt cutting equipment is brown, jagged leaf edges after trimming.
- Careful shaping is key. Established hedges with a good outline are simple to maintain. Create a crisp initial framework using a string line, and keep stepping back to eye up the hedge and skim off any wobbly edges.
- Shape the hedge so that it is slightly narrower at the top than at the bottom. This does two things – it helps to get maximum light to the base of the hedge so that it doesn’t get thin, and it also encourages heavy snow to fall off rather than splay out the top branches.
- Cut your hedges regularly. This makes them denser, so more effective at their task. It also makes pruning simpler and quicker because there are less trimmings to rake up each time, and you’ll feel the bushy, firm outline easily with your hedge cutters.
- Raking up clippings can be laborious – if your garden allows it. Avoid positioning borders right up against a hedge. Instead incorporate a 50cm-wide strip of grass or hard paving adjacent to it, onto which the clippings can fall. Laying a plastic sheet down to catch the clippings makes tidying up far quicker.