Hedge your bets!
It is SO much easier (quicker & cheaper) when hedges are maintained regularly.
A lot like a hair cut really, you know it needs doing but something always comes along that needs more urgent attention and so it gets left for another year.
It is no fun trying to recover a hedge that has not been cut for many years but having the heavy kit to make the job more efficient is a bonus.
Don’t put it off until next year, that will just mean another year’s worth of growth, more leaves clogging up the gutters and dark and damp areas that would benefit enormously from getting some sunlight and air circulating.
Leaving it as late as possible in the season (preferably after September) will ensure minimum disturbance of nesting birds and retaining piles of leaf mulch / twigs / timber (in an appropriate spot) will provide fantastic habitat for all manner of fungi and creatures.
The best approach is to have a suitable hedge ‘laid’ so that it will form a long lasting stock (or burglar) proof structure, but that is time consuming and therefore considered expensive although a properly laid hedge can deliver VfM since it would not require an annual cut but rather a 3-5 yearly re-lay.
Time to hedge your bets and get it done!
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