Having a hedge around the perimeter of your property or perhaps creating a statement in one area of your garden not only gives a nice vocal point to your landscaping but also provides shelter and a home for many birds and animals. It is important that you regularly maintain the hedges in order to keep them healthy and looking their best. If you are struggling with this maintenance, you can contact Grounds Maintenance Gloucestershire company

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There are a variety of different ways that you can preserve the health and look of your hedges as well as ensuring that you regularly feed, water and prune them. Here are some ideas for you:

Don’t rush to shear

Before you get the shears out and start hacking away at your hedge it is worth hand pruning some of the inner sections. Once you have thinned out the inner sections you can then start to trim away at the outer branches to tidy up your hedge, reduce its overall height or even trim it into a particular shape. When you cut the inner stems, it is important to make sure that you make the cut at a 45-degree angle just above a leaf bud.

Pick the right time

Pruning during the winter months means that you are not at risk of cutting off any leave or flower buds or any new healthy growth. When you prune a hedge, you are not only taking away any stems that are growing at an angle that you don’t want them to, you are also trying to encourage the plant to put its energy in the spring towards growing new stems in the direction of growth that you are after. This is one of the other reasons why you cut the stem at a 45-degree angle just above a bud that is growing in the direction that you wish the hedge to bush out into.

Wider bases

Keeping your hedge wider at the bottom than at the top helps to ensure that the sunlight still reaches the lower branches and leaves and helps to keep the hedge healthy and thriving. The shape of the top of the hedge is irrelevant and can be flat, pointed or even rounded.

Plan your planting

When first planting your hedge, you need to ensure that you give the plant enough space to grow vertically and horizontally. This means planning you planting beds in advance, so you don’t have to spend lots of time dealing with a plant is growing into a difficult space.