Hedges

I need to take a privet hedge back about a foot, I'm thinking cutting it down so there's only a stump left then trying to dig the stump out but wandering if anybody has any experience of these things and give me some points before I rush in and make a proper pig's ear of things

 

We could do a lot better than signing Ryan Hedges to help us pick up points buddy

 

The lady next door has a huge bush which overhangs on my side, so I'm thinking of trimming it. Any tips?

 

Do you require or sensible answer or a rude one??

 

Rude is always better. After googling, I think I'm allowed to trim her bush, provided I give her the clippings back.

 

Seems a fair deal to me

 

I have just taken out about 5 yards of privet from between me and the neighbour, his garden is higher up and soil from his side was coming through the hedge and starting to build up near my greenhouse which is only 14 inches or so away. Fortunately for me the soil was a fine crumbly top soil and was easy to dig, the stumps I took out with a combination of an iron bar which is about 5 foot long with a tapered end which I have used in the past to remove saplings and a mattock which I bought from Wickes the other week.
I would remove most of the greenery on the privet leaving some trunks/branches to get hold of when twisting it out when most of main roots have been chopped through. It depends on the type of soil how difficult it will be to dig and how much room you have to manoeuvre when bending and twisting the stump after hopefully cutting the main roots.
I hope this has helped! good luck Sprotbrough Red.

 

Why not just move in and hide in the bush, but beware of anyone occasionally of trying poke the wax out of your ears.

 

Be careful though. You aren't allowed to reach in

 

Thanks Turbotyke in taking the time to give a sensible answer, the space shouldn't be too much of a problem but it's proximity might be as it's very close to the drive way so close to concrete, do you know how deep the root ball potentially is, it's a very well established hedge standing around 10ft high?

 

I trim my wife's bush twice per year, the extra light has allowed her clematis to thrive. In return, she's taken to handling my purple morning glory on a more regular basis.

 

Do you mean cut a foot off the whole length, trimming it back, i.e. along and make it narrower/thinner, or at one end and make it shorter? If it's the former, we trimmed it back bit by bit till it looked like a load of twigs. It has since greened itself back up, was panicking because it is a boundary hedge and not ours, but had grown too wide. We understand the stumps are the boundary. Reclaimed two foot which was useful.

 

This post is exactly why the bbs can never be restricted solely to football. This one brought tears.

I did nearly just choke to death on the sweet I was eating - so it might not just be due to how funny I found it. But bravo anyway.

 

I took out a big clump of privet last year. Managed it with a garden fork and a lot of elbow grease. It was a good work out over a few hours but certainly doable.

 

Me and the neighbour removed the one between our gardens and put up a fence.

Just elbow grease as above, it’s a shrub so the roots aren’t as bad as tree roots. I’d rather do a couple of privet than one proper tree.

 

Never pulled up any trees...,,,

 

Always tried to hog the ball, he did.

 

Hi, take the whole lot, stump and all back about a foot, I need to because the neighbour is lengthening his drive fence so I'll be losing my swing out when I back out on to a main road on the other side, I've cut it back now and just left about 8" at the base which now needs to come out but it's already bending the spade

 

Yes that's what I'm worried about but elbow grease is something I'm lacking at the minute as I'm currently going through cancer treatment so not as strong as I was