Hedge trimming or bush pruning? Why bother! Well I’m no hedge trimming expert. But after checking out and reviewing the Garden Groom yesterday and realized that many of you are looking for info on this subject. I realized that sheering bushes and shrubs with Garden Groom will only come in handy if you have many box shaped shrubs. You might not want to do that on all of your bushes. Scott and Yolanda from Expert Village mention that it looks more natural by either pruning by hand or with the use of sheers.

Why Bother Trimming a Hedge?

Our old friend Yolanda is back with tips on hedge trimming. She also did a video series on growing tomatoes in the Topsy Turvy Planter a while back.

• If you leave your bushes and hedges unchecked, especially during the first few years, the can quickly lose their shape. Then they end up looking messy or casting shade in areas you don’t want. If you keep a good pruning schedule you can keep your hedges under control with minimal effort.
• Part of the process of establishing a well formed hedge is trimming it vertically. You’ll want to promote a sideways growth as well to keep them bushy.
• Untrimmed hedges become “leggy” or thin at the bottom and thicker toward the top.
• If your waiting for your plant to grow to the final height before shearing it’s too late to get nice sized base branches.

Different Ways to Prune Trees and Shrubs

Scott Reel from Expert Village talks about how to trim a variety of trees and shrubs with different pruning methods.

• With Blue Spruce, you can control the length of the growth for that season by just snapping off the candles by hand. It will create more buds back in behind and your tree will look more full and lush.
• On the woodier type deciduous plants use the hand pruners. For flowering bushes, prune them with hand pruners after they are done flowering. It creates a more natural look this way. Selectively prune a few of the leaders and tops about 1/3 inch above the adventitious bud. It will look natural and full and not sheered. Trees will grow better and look healthier.

Trim Hedges Around Your Home

• Hedges are better than fences since they allow the breeze to blow through it yet still allow for privacy.
• The bottom of the hedge should get as much light as the top. So you can prune it with sheers at an angle.
• If there are bigger wood branches take the whole branch out at the base, then the newer fresher twigs will fill in the hole.

Trimming Hedges is a very broad topic…these are just the basics but I hope these helped! Below are more specific videos. If you click on any of the videos it will take you to that video on Wonder How-To.com.

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