Hedge Cutting and Garden Maintenance

Hedge cutting and garden maintenance are extremely important when it comes to defining your exterior boundaries with your neighbors.

Like all garden maintenance jobs, planning is extremely important, and none more so than the equipment to be used. Not only is it important to ensure your trimmers and shears are in good working order but you must also give some thought to your safety equipment such as gloves, goggles and for high positioned tasks helmets and proper boots.

For smaller hedges hand shears would normally suffice however for large scale jobs petrol or electrical trimmers would be seen as the standard option nowadays.

The majority of hedges have to be clipped after planting and then twice a year in spring and late summer. Normally, you would only trim the side shoots of more temperately growing hedges leaving the leading shoots untouched. The most vigorous species might need trimming 2 or 3 times in the growing season. Once the leading shoots have attained the desired height, trim them level to make a flat-topped, wider-growing hedge.

Whilst trimming the hedge, it's extremely important to make sure you always have a good vantage point to assess how your "lines" are running as it's very difficult to determine accurately by eye; it's only when you have finished that any mistakes become apparent.

The great thing about working in the garden is that its a dynamic environment - even if you do make mistakes they will soon be remedied - take for example the rosebush; roses are very hardy and forgiving, so short of cutting them off an inch above the ground, it's hard to make a mistake.