On 28/09/14 14:54, Janet wrote:
In article ,
says...
I have extensive hedging which Father Time has decreed I need to get
someone to cut it for me.
I have just had it extensively cut, now I plan to get it trimmed twice a
year so that it is kept reasonably tidy. The hedges are holly, beech and
hawthorn, with odds and ends mixed in.
When would be the best months to have it cut, to keep it tidy and under
control?
Autumn /winter, when no birds are nesting in it, and you will get the
longest "neat effect" before it starts growing again.
Janet
I agree. No experience of beech, but I have hawthorn/holly mix.
I can get away with one brutal cut in a year, which autumn is a good
choice as Janet says.
A light trim in early summer can smarten it up alot though.
My cutting schedule is dictated by brown bin capacity combined with a
dry weekend day and me being free at that time. One brown bin holds
about 1/3 of the cuttings of my hedge so I need 3 "ideal" days. In
reality the whole hedge gets 2 cuts a year at best simply because of
these constraints.
If it were not all spikey crap, I'd cut it in one and pile it up - and
my long term plan is to gradually replace the hawthorn with beech and
keep/encourage the holly. I really really hate hawthorn. Bunch of twigs
in winter and horrid stuff to handle (though admittedly not the worse -
damson is truly evil). Others will disagree, but I'm a thorn-o-phobe and
thus have few roses!