Trimming The Hedge

As many of you know, there is a bay laurel hedge around 3 sides of our property. Each fall, the current year's growth needs to be trimmed back to make way for new growth in the spring and to just neaten things up. A trimmed hedge looks very nice.

The hedge is pretty tall, about 2,5 meters (8 ft.) in places, more like 2 meters (7 ft.) in others, and it averages about 1 meter (3 ft.) wide. Some parts are nearly 1,5 meters (5 ft.) wide and I really have to stretch with the trimmer while teetering on the ladder. Ugh!

The first couple of years after we moved here, we hired someone to trim the hedge in the fall. But that got very expensive. So for the cost of one year's hire, we bought our own trimmer and this is the second year that I've done the hedge myself. The trimmer basically paid for itself the first year.

A portion of the hegde along the east side of our property. It's the highest section, about 8 feet tall. It also is about 2 feet from the neighbor's fence; a tight squeeze.

However, whereas the guys we hired did it in one day, it takes me considerably longer. Since I only work when the weather is nice, and then only for a couple hours a day and only when I feel like it, I have to do the hedge in sections. So far this year I've spent 5 days over the course of the last 3 weeks, and there are likely 2, maybe 3 more days' work left. But, when a section gets done, it's very satisfying. Especially when I think of how much money we saved.

A portion of the back hedge, along our road. This is before I started, with all the previous year's growth intact.

Some of the problem parts include a section of the hedge that's against a neighbor's fence. The space is tight and the ladder just barely fits. Another problem section is along the road where there is a ditch about 2 feet deep adjacent to the hedge. I have to bridge the gap with old shutters so I can put up the ladder to trim the top of the hedge.

The same view of the back hedge with the inside half trimmed. Next up: the outside half along the road, where there's a ditch to bridge.

Also, using a ladder to get to the top means moving the ladder every few feet. That means climbing up and down with the trimmer. Ken posted some pictures of me up on the ladder here, if you want to see the scale. It's good exercise, at least, but it takes time. I'll post a photo of the finished hedge once I've got it done. ;)

More progress on the back hedge. It's slow going because of the ditch, which you can't see in this picture.