HEDGE TRIMMING

Hedges are the job people put off, and the longer they are left the fewer options there are. An overgrown hedge is not always recoverable, and which species it is decides that entirely.

The one thing worth knowing

Conifers will not regrow from bare brown wood. Leylandii, cypress, thuja — if you cut back past the green growth into the brown interior, that face stays brown for ever. There is no treatment and no patience that fixes it.

So an overgrown leylandii hedge has exactly two honest options: keep it trimmed within the green, at whatever size it has reached, or take it out and start again. Anyone offering to cut a thirty-foot leyland hedge back to six feet and telling you it will green up is either mistaken or hoping you will not ring back.

Yew is the exception — it will regenerate from old wood, which is why ancient yew hedges can be brought back from almost anything. So will most broadleaves: beech, hornbeam, laurel, privet, hawthorn and box all take hard renovation, though beech and hornbeam are best done in stages over two or three years rather than all at once.

What we do

• Annual and twice-yearly trims — kept to shape, cut with a batter (slightly wider at the base than the top) so light reaches the bottom and it does not go bare underneath
• Height reduction on hedges that have outgrown the garden
• Hard renovation on broadleaved hedges, staged where the species needs it
• Reshaping hedges that have gone wide, lopsided or bare at the base
• Removal, including grinding the stumps out — usually where a leyland row is coming out and fencing is going in
• Everything cleared and taken away. We are licensed waste carriers, and a hedge produces a startling volume of arisings

Nesting birds — the timing that is not optional

All wild birds’ nests are protected by law while in use, and hedges are where birds nest. That means between roughly March and August we check a hedge before cutting it, and if there is an active nest, that section waits until the young have fledged.

This is a criminal offence rather than a guideline, and it applies to the householder as well as the contractor. Anyone who offers to cut your hedge in May without looking is putting you at risk. The practical answer is to do the main cut in late summer or winter, which suits most hedges anyway.

High hedges and neighbours

If a neighbour’s evergreen hedge over two metres is blocking your light, there is a formal route — councils can act on a high hedge complaint under the Anti-social Behaviour Act, though they charge a fee and expect you to have tried to sort it out between yourselves first. It is worth knowing it exists. It is also worth knowing that a conversation and a shared trim usually costs everyone less than the fee.

You can cut a neighbour’s hedge back to the boundary line yourself, and you should offer the cuttings back. If the hedge contains a protected tree — and old boundary hedges sometimes do — the usual consent rules apply. See protected trees.

How we work

• Free site visit. We walk the garden with you, talk it through, sketch a rough plan on the spot and take measurements
• Detailed written quotation within 48 hours. Itemised, so you can see what each part costs and leave out anything you’d rather not do yet
• We build it on agreed dates, with our own team doing the clearing, groundwork and construction
• Everything goes. We’re licensed waste carriers, so the spoil and arisings leave legally and the paperwork exists

We don’t put prices on the website. The same job on a flat plot with a drive to the back, and on a sloping garden you can only reach through the house, are genuinely different jobs — any figure here would be a guess. The visit is free and gets you a real number.

Related work

Common questions

QUESTIONS WE GET ASKED

Can you cut my leylandii right back?

Only within the green growth. Cut into the bare brown wood and it will never regrow — that face stays brown permanently. So the honest choice with an overgrown leyland hedge is keeping it trimmed at roughly the size it has reached, or taking it out and replacing it. Anyone telling you it will green up again is wrong.

Can you cut hedges in spring and summer?

Carefully. Nesting birds are protected by law from around March to August, so we check a hedge before cutting and leave any section with an active nest until the young have gone. Where possible we would rather book the main cut for late summer or winter. It is a criminal offence, not a preference, and it applies to you as the householder too.

When should hedges be cut?

Most formal hedges are best done once in late summer, or twice — early summer and again in late summer — if you want it sharp. Beech and hornbeam like a single late-summer cut so they hold their brown leaves through winter. Renovation of broadleaved hedges is a winter job.

My hedge is bare at the bottom. Can it be fixed?

On a broadleaved hedge, usually — hard pruning and cutting it with a batter, so it is wider at the base than the top and light reaches the lower growth. On a conifer hedge, no, if the bare part is brown wood. The batter is the thing most people miss; a hedge cut straight up and down goes bare at the bottom eventually.

Do you take the cuttings away?

Yes, and there are always more than people expect. It is chipped and taken away as standard — we are licensed waste carriers so it goes legally.

My neighbour’s hedge is blocking my light. What can I do?

Talk to them first — it is cheaper and quicker than anything else, and we are happy to quote for cutting both sides so it gets done once. Failing that, councils can act on evergreen hedges over two metres under the high hedges legislation, for a fee, but they will expect to see you tried to resolve it yourselves.