Hedge Trimming AcrossCrawley & East Grinstead:A Clean Line, Nothing Left On The Lawn

A hedge trimmed once or twice a year stays within its green growth every time, so a normal cut is simply removing the current season's extension growth back to last year's line, quick, low-risk, and something that can be repeated indefinitely without harming the hedge. Once a hedge has been left for two or three seasons, the growth has moved outward and upward past that green layer, and a single cut back to the old line would mean cutting into bare wood.

In that case the job becomes a structural reduction: taking the hedge back over more than one visit, staged across a season or more, so the plant is never asked to regenerate from more bare wood than it can manage at once. For conifers this is the difference between a hedge that recovers with a slightly harder look for a season, and one left permanently thin on one face.

Leylandii and most conifers will not reliably regrow from bare wood once the green foliage is cut away, a hard cut into old growth on these species is close to permanent, which is why reductions are planned to leave a margin of green rather than cutting to exactly the target line in one pass. Yew is the notable exception among conifers and is one of the few evergreens that will regenerate even from a hard cut back into old wood, which makes overgrown yew hedges far more forgiving to restore.

Broadleaf hedging such as beech, hornbeam, privet and hawthorn is generally more tolerant and will regenerate from older wood with time, which gives more flexibility on timing and how hard a reduction can go in one visit. Laurel sits in between, it tolerates a harder cut than a conifer but responds better to it being staged rather than done all at once, particularly on a hedge that's been left for several years.

The High Hedges Act 2003 gives local authorities powers to deal with complaints about evergreen or semi-evergreen hedges over two metres that are affecting a neighbouring property's reasonable enjoyment of light or outlook. It doesn't ban tall hedges outright, but where a formal complaint is upheld the council can issue a notice requiring the hedge to be reduced to a specified height and kept there, enforceable with penalties if ignored.

In practice, most of these situations are resolved without ever reaching that stage, an agreed reduction between neighbours, carried out professionally to a specific height, closes the issue before a formal complaint is lodged. We're happy to quote to a height specified by a council notice, or to a sensible compromise height agreed between neighbours directly.

Most hedges are cut in late spring to early summer and again in early autumn to keep a tidy line through the growing season, though the exact timing depends on species and how fast a particular hedge is putting on growth. Between March and August, hedges are one of the most common nesting sites in a garden, so the whole hedge is checked for active nests before cutting starts, if a nest is found, that section is left until the young birds have fledged.

Hard structural reductions on conifers are best carried out outside the main growing season, giving the hedge the longest possible run to put on some fresh green growth before it's exposed to winter, and are often staged across more than one visit to spread the recovery period.

Taller hedges, anything above standard reach with a pole hedge cutter, are cut from a platform, steps or, where access allows, a mobile elevating platform, rather than freehand from a ladder against the hedge itself, which is both unstable and imprecise for getting a level line. Boundary hedges backing onto a road or a neighbour's garden are also managed with care for what falls where, particularly with taller reductions where cut material needs controlling rather than simply dropping over the far side.

All arisings are chipped and cleared as standard. Where a client wants to keep chippings for mulch, woodchip is available at £50 per truck load up to 3 tonne, and where the job includes cutting back small trees within the hedge line as well, logs are available at £100 per tonne bag.