What hedge cutting and trimming covers
A good hedge gives you privacy, shelter and a soft green boundary, but only if it is kept in check. Left alone, most garden hedges grow wider and taller every year, spill over paths and lawns, lose their shape and start to thin out at the bottom. Hedge cutting and trimming from Affordable Gardens & Landscapes brings a hedge back to a neat, even line and keeps it there.
We cut the kinds of hedges found in most gardens: privet and laurel along front gardens, leylandii and other conifers grown for privacy, beech and hornbeam, hawthorn and mixed boundary hedges, and low box or lonicera edging around beds. The work covers the sides and the top, cutting back growth that hangs over paths, drives and pavements, and clearing up the cuttings afterwards. Large shrubs that have outgrown their space can be trimmed and shaped at the same time.
Hedge work is part of what we do as gardeners, not tree work. If a hedge has grown into a line of trees that needs felling or large limbs removing, that is a job for a tree surgeon, and we will tell you so straight away.
Signs your hedge needs cutting
- It is spilling over the pavement or the drive, making it awkward to walk past or park.
- It is blocking light from windows or shading the lawn.
- The top has grown too tall to reach safely from a small step.
- The sides have bulged out and the hedge is taking up a big slice of the garden.
- It looks ragged and uneven, or the bottom has gone thin and bare.
- A neighbour has mentioned it growing over their side.
How a hedge cutting job runs
- Tell us about the hedge. Call 07347 572509 with the rough length and height, the type if you know it, and whether it is at the front or back. A photo helps.
- A look and a quote. We look at the hedge, the access on both sides and where the cuttings will fall, and give you a quote.
- A nest check. Between March and August, the hedge should be checked for active birds' nests before any cutting starts.
- Cutting. The sides are trimmed first, then the top, working to a straight, even line, usually with the base left slightly wider than the top so light reaches the lower branches.
- Clearing up. Cuttings are raked out of borders, swept off paths and lawns and the garden waste is cleared away.
- A final look. We walk along the hedge with you so you can see the finished line.
If cutting a hedge back reveals beds and borders that need attention, a garden clearance and tidy up can deal with the rest of the garden at the same time.
When to cut a hedge, and nesting birds
Most formal garden hedges look best with a trim once or twice a year, and fast-growing types such as privet and leylandii can need more. Late summer into early autumn is a popular time for the main cut, because most of the year's growth has been made and the hedge then stays tidy through the winter. The colder months, when many deciduous hedges are bare, can suit a harder cut back of a hedge that has been left too long.
Wild birds often nest in garden hedges, and their nests are protected. Government guidance says you must not do any work that might harm nesting birds or destroy their nests, and that the main nesting and breeding season usually runs from 1 March to 31 August. So a hedge cut during that window should be checked first, and if there is an active nest, that section is left until the birds have gone.
What affects the scope of a hedge job
- the length and height of the hedge, and whether the top can be reached from the ground or needs steps
- how overgrown it is and how far it needs cutting back
- the type of hedge, as dense conifers and woody hedges take longer than a soft privet
- access to both sides, including whether the far side faces a neighbour or a pavement
- how much garden waste there will be to clear away
- whether you want a one-off cut or regular trims through the year
One thing worth knowing about conifers: leylandii and most other conifers do not regrow from old brown wood, so a very overgrown conifer hedge can only be cut back so far before it is left with bare patches. We will tell you what is realistic before we start.
A family run, fully insured team
Cutting hedges with powered trimmers near paths, cars and windows needs care and a steady pair of hands. Affordable Gardens & Landscapes is a family run business based in Knottingley, and we are fully insured. One customer described us as a "very hardworking polite team nothing was to much for them", and that is how we approach every hedge, from a short run of privet to a long conifer boundary.
Areas covered and getting a quote
We cut hedges for homes and businesses from our base in Knottingley across Normanton, Wakefield, Castleford, Pontefract, Featherstone, Outwood, Altofts, Stanley, Rothwell, Ossett, Horbury and Knottingley itself. Regular trims can also be built into regular garden maintenance visits, so the hedge never gets out of hand again.
Call 07347 572509, Monday to Friday between 9am and 6pm, or send a message with a photo of the hedge, and we will send you a quote.
