Over the hedge

Giz a job

Last Sunday. The whole day in. Yay! But which job to tackle? I could stay indoors & sugar soap the walls of the hall loo... Nah, let's get outside!

But which outdoor job? Both lawns were buzzed during the week so I get to pick something else - double yay!

Weeding one of the beds would be good, but I still don't know what half the stuff is. Plus the thought makes my heart sink as there's soooo much to do.

The previous owner, Mrs |H, clearly had maintenance fatigue too...

 

How do I re-home saplings?

I could do a round of sapling eviction. Living on the edge of a wood it's no great surprise that it wants to claim our garden for itself. We have lots of vigorous youngsters that will totally dominate if they stay. I'd really like to donate them cos it seems a shame to trash them, but I've not found anyone willing to take them. Any ideas?

Go with your gut

Finally I use the decision-making technique we've adopted since moving - fix whatever's pissing you off the most. & casting an eye over the South Lawn, it's the overgrown hedge from next door. Don't get me wrong - the neighbours have done a fab job of keeping the level to about half a meter above the fence, but the hedge now overhangs on our side, & this house had been empty for a while before we moved in, so it's got a bit big...

The South East corner needs a haircut

 

It's so dark in that corner, Hubby thinks it's hampering the health of the Cherry tree that's down there. This member of the jury remains unconvinced about that theory but it'd be cool to neaten up that bit of the hedge. So let's have at it & test the Cherry theory - we can do science, us!

Getting cracking

First cut, along the fence line.

 

I kept a close line along the top of the fence.

 

Some of the panels have fallen in a bit, another sign of how unruly the hedge is getting, so we didn't think the folks next door would have any problem with this wrangling plan, but just to keep things friendly, we felt we needed a chat before tackling the biggest bit. However, the neighbours were out so I kept going with non-contentious bits.

As I pruned back, I discovered 2 shrubs. Unlike the lovely soft beech hedging, both of these were spiky spiny buggers. One was a large hawthorn, & its thorns were absolutely viscous. Time to get the welding gloves out.

Ouch! These guys take no prisoners.

 

Opps... we've found more garden...

Cutting it all back reveals a whole new corner of garden... I'm now wondering how wise this pruning plan was, cos the garden is already big enough!

I could hear Hubby talking, & twigged he had caught the returning neighbours. They gave the big trim their approval, so we started on the last bit.


The off-cut mountain grows...

 

Biggest last

The best point to cut the last big stem was over their side of the fence. With the neighbours' blessing in place, Hubby tied a rope above the cut, then I got busy with the saw.

I'm feeling the urge to stick googly eyes onto this pic...

 

As the branch started to fall, Hubby gave me the heads up. I ducked out of the way & he pulled it to safety. Like a well-oiled machine... ;)

Now we've just got the clear up to do...

Clear up operation

I hate the word 'just'. It's rarely true, & in my gardening experience, the clearing up always takes much longer than the job itself. I often try to clear up as I go, but those good intentions often evaporate once I'm stuck into the job.

There's a wheelbarrow under there somewhere...

 

We needed a strategy to process the huge pile of trimmings, so we set up a 4 pile system:

1. Composting leaves & twigs into the dumpy bag.
2. Firewood twigs into the round black bin.
3. Chunkier firewood into a pile.
4. Aggressive stuff (brambles, thorny things) into the garden waste wheelie bin.

Off-cut processing production line

 

Take a break

Half way through the heap & we're getting tired. The sun's come out, my head is starting to bake, & Hubby's getting blisters from all the snip snip snipping. The compost bin is full, the garden waste wheelie bin is almost full. We have a break while we reconsider our options.

Snax!

 

"How about we fill the dumpy bag and take it to the tip?"
Genius! Half & half seems fair to me. The rest of the trimmings can go onto the municipal compost heap.

Put a bit in, take a bit out

Talking of which, I totally failed to find any peat-free compost this week, but a friend reminded me about council compost. £3 a bag from the tip - bonzer :D We'll see how it is.

Why is it labelled "Soil conditioner", not "Compost"?
Should I be worried?

 

Job done

Stepping back, we start to realise what a big difference today's trim has made.

Before & after

 

1. We can now see the woods to the East, extending our views out.
2. This corner is in the South East, so when you stand here & look West across the garden, you'll get the last the evening sun before it snicks behind the house. Prime seating location I reckon, cos I love a garden seat, me.
3. It gives us a clue what sort of changes we'll get in this garden when we lower the Big Beech Hedge that is our Southern boundary.

That day gets ever closer, but we'll need help with that job...