Prune the hedge

The hedge in the garden

The hedges are a very important element of the garden; they are used primarily as dividers outward or between different areas within or even to hide old peeling walls and unsightly corners, but their function can not be only cosmetic.

A hedge placed in the right spot can be an effective barrier against the wind, the sun, the dust and also against noise and noise pollution.
Hedges also represent a natural habitat for insects and birds, thus contributing to the balance of the natural environment as a whole.

The first thing to do when you decide to plant a hedge, is to decide the type of plant to be used.

If you think you do not have much time for their care, better to choose a variety rustic as the laurel, the Thuia or privet; if in your garden play children or animals, it would be good to avoid thorny plants, such as hawthorn.
Once selected and planted, over the watering you must take into account the most difficult pruning.

Cut the hedge

Timing is important, in all fields and gardening is no exception.
There are operations that must be made in a specific period of the year; this is the case of one of the more annoying interventions, difficult but at the same time important, namely the arrangement of the hedge.

When the intervention on the hedge becomes urgent, before the branches take too much force and the situation becomes difficult to recover, a good pruning can help to make more beautiful and graceful the garden.

If you still see the height limit set before, as for a haircut that you just give a trim, just a little attention to follow the lines already drawn.

Tools for cutting the hedge

For each intervention of a good DIY, it is important to take the time right, the necessary calm and do well to deal with the equipment we need.
The two parties are: the traditionalists with pruning shears or modernists with various devices.

The first are those that rely on old big scissors certainly very useful but in need of a major effort and are suitable for hedges not too woody.
The box trees and light hedges can be adjusted very well with this tool while the hardest hedges, such as the cherry laurel, are much more tiring to manage.
On the latter is done much better with modern devices, electrical or with internal combustion engine.

These tools are very practical and also have the advantage of making easier the height adjustment thanks to the long arm that adjusts in one shot the entire thickness of the hedge.

To be given to whether our hedge follow a straight line, it may be useful to pull a wire to serve as reference but, in general, this device requires more if you use the scissors than with another device that does everything by itself.
When using the latter, however, it is necessary to distinguish the case of power tools or electrically powered trimmers.

In the first case the maintenance of the engine and its lubrication are very important and, before winter storage, you need to take precautions so that the tool remains always new and work well.
For the electric device the first need to point to is the attention not to cut the wire during the operation.

In fact, it is vital to keep the wire away from the instrument to avoid dangerous cuts that can lead to short out the entire electrical system, with imaginable consequences.

Protective equipment to cut the hedge

Another very important chapter in the context of trimmers, is on the protection.

Needless to say, domestic accidents are the first places in the statistics as frequency of emergency room; for this reason, it is always advisable to resort to the means of individual protection.
Specifically, for this type of work are essential safety shoes, cut-resistant gloves and protective mask for the eyes, which shelters from branches and any fragments fired from the machine during operation.

Safety shoes are especially useful in case of a fall, also of large parts of trees and bushes.
The cut resistant gloves are used to create a protection to the skin, in the event of incidental contact with the blade, which occurs repeatedly in the operations of gardening and can happen even to the most experienced green thumb.

A final key aspect for the method of pruning and the use of the rule hedge, to the choice of ladder that must be strictly solid and stable.
Normally you use a low one more than a normal height ladder.

The ladders are usually equipped with a safety device that locks them in the open position and prevents it from closing.
Even on ladders we have something to clarify: it should be placed carefully and possibly on a flat surface to avoid any capsizing.