How can I keep my hedges neat and tidy?

Garden hedges are a precious wild life habitat and therefore great care needs to be taken in their maintenance. The RSPB advise all work to hedges to cease between the critical nesting months of March to August, but when there is an early spring like this year, the gardener needs to make an informed decision. It is actually a criminal offence under Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) to intentionally take damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built. So if you know that there is a nest there and cut the hedge anyway, you are breaking the law. The trouble is that by August many hedge plants are berry bearing and this is a vital winter food source for birds, so ideally most garden hedges should be pruned, trimmed and tidied during the winter months, when the branches are bare, the berries are gone and the nesting season is well and truly over.



Hard prune any overzealous growth in the winter, cutting out any large stems and branches and checking the top growth so that hedge doesn t grow too tall. You can then do a light trim in late Feb if necessary, you should be able to keep things in check. It is then a matter of regular care and maintenance. For the best results in hedge control you need to start pruning and shaping your hedges when they are young plants, this encourages a tight, dense, bushy habit. Once youve got the hedge roughly shaped, as you want it, you need to regularly trim it depending on the plant species and the effect that you want. Formal hedges and topiary need to be cut two or three times a year. For ease of maintenance choose to use a small powered hedge trimmer. Fast growing hedges need to be kept under control to minimize nuisance.



Hedges are the cause of many neighbour disputes and often involve boundary hedges where the true ownership is a grey area. Traditional hedges such as beech, hornbeam and hawthorn need to pruned in late August and any major work carried out while the trees are dormant in winter. Don’t forget to keep formal hedges wider at the bottom than at the top or they may topple in high winds. Avoid cutting conifer trees after late summer and never cut beyond the surface green layer into the brown wood, as conifers are usually loath to regrow. Most other hedging plants thrive on good pruning and will quickly recover.



Feed your hedges from time to time to keep them healthy. Choose a granular balanced fertiliser that can be applied to the surface area over the roots and give a spring feed February/March and a follow up application in July/August. Don’t feed too late or you will encourage soft sappy regrowth that will be affected by hard winters.



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