abwsco Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 With the proper tools ie a petrol driven hedge trimmer you can go from this to this Oh, and you also fill up a big wheelie bin and the back of 2 x Punto's and 1 x Mazda 323 all with the back seats down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 hahaha there's no stopping you now is there?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abwsco Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 BC, we trim it every couple of years and for years and years I've been telling DH that we never take enough off it. As you can see I got my way this year as I "accidentally took some big bits off with the loppers" when he wasn't looking He then had no choice but to take it down more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 You'll have to clean your windows now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abwsco Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 You'll have to clean your windows now! Cheeky Luckily there are a couple of small conifers in front of the windows so we've still got some privacy from pedestrians Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 I think you definitely did the right thing with the front hedge! harder to tell with the other view, but pretty sure it will come back better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abwsco Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 I think you definitely did the right thing with the front hedge! harder to tell with the other view, but pretty sure it will come back better. Fingers crossed it will. Feeling a bit guilty though as I don't think the blackbird will make it's nest in it this year but there's still plenty of ivy like this at the bottom of the back garden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aunty e Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Now you want a shredder - my brother took a big tree and a huge laurel bush down for us last week - we've now got half a shed full of chopped up hardwood for the winter after next and I picked up an Alko shredder on ebay for £30 and the chickens have a lovely mulchy bedding in their run It's hard work, but it compacted most of a tree and a huge bush into three ikea bags of shredded mulch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Anne, Do you get flowers on that ivy? Dani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 We did a similar thing to the ivy in our back garden last year and it has come back pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abwsco Posted May 16, 2011 Author Share Posted May 16, 2011 Anne,Do you get flowers on that ivy? Dani We do Infact I posted a thread last year asking what the flying things were that were attracted to it as we knew they weren't wasps but some plonker rang environmental health telling them we had a wasps nest in it and they couldn't walk past it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abwsco Posted May 16, 2011 Author Share Posted May 16, 2011 We did a similar thing to the ivy in our back garden last year and it has come back pretty well. That's good to know Liz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 we have an ivy hedge like yours, and we do alternate sides alternate years to try and keep it under control.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abwsco Posted May 16, 2011 Author Share Posted May 16, 2011 We need to tackle pruning the lilac tree and cherry blossom that you can see in the photo's next. They've not been done in years and years so any pointers on how to do that properly would be much appreciated. DH is definately just of the hack it and see persuasion with them and I'm sure that won't work. Had to stop him doing it on Saturday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 the lilac you can prune as hard as you like once the flowers have finished - shame to do it before! if you really go for the scorched earth policy it might not flower (as much) next year, but after that it will be fine. cherry thing - I have no idea! but if it's a flowering one rather than a fruiting one, I would think that again you can prune it when the flowers are over. its quite difficult to kill most things I find! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluekarin Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I have ivy growing over our side fence (between us and the garages) and I cut it back very hard every year. Still grows back thick as ever each year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
