How to Trim Hedges

Hedges are a bunch of shrubs planted in a row. Growing hedges is a very old concept as the use of hedges dates back to the Neolithic age, when they were used to border land for cultivating cereals. Not much efforts are involved in planting hedges.

Even maintaining and trimming them is not a difficult job. But periodical trimming and proper care is necessary for any gardener to enhance the look of his garden.

You will require garden tools such as a pair of hedge trimmers, garden stakes, and one string in order to trim a hedge. Always remember that while trimming a hedge, the earlier you start the more it becomes easy for you to trim the hedge and also for the plants to become habitual to it.

Now to trim the hedges and to level them evenly, place the garden stakes along the length of the hedge row and fix a string between the two stakes. Now trim the hedges with the help of a hedge trimmer along the string line. This would ensure proper leveling of hedges.

Sometimes, your garden remains unattended for a long time due to some reason. In such cases, the hedges tend to overgrow. Now you might be wondering on how to trim overgrown hedges. Well, the answer is simple! You just need to follow the same procedure as mentioned.

The only extra thing you will have to do is, cut the V-shaped branches, find out the long stem branches and just cut them properly. You can use a power hedge trimmer for the thicker branches. However, you can trim the thinner ones with the help of a hand trimmer.

The next thing you are going to ask is how to trim tall hedges? Simple, this is not at all a herculean task. In fact, just stand on a tall stool and perform the hedge trimming activity. If you want, you can have a ladder but take care not to lose balance. You can fasten the ladder with a strong rope to some object fixed in the ground so that it remains firm.

Even if you commit a mistake while leveling the hedge and mistakenly over cut some part of the hedge, plant re-growth will automatically repair the mistake. Trim the hedges before the growing season of the plants ends. This would maintain the beautiful look of your hedges throughout the winter season.

Ensure that you regularly sharpen the hedge trimmers, as properly sharpened blades will give you the best results. Learn how to sharpen hedge trimmers and then do the actual sharpening activity. Else, you can get it done from a professional.