Summer 2019 – Shadow and I; in the Sun

10 Minutes in the shade.

A busy day with the Mountfield hedge clippers today and a mixed bag of hedging material to tame back and start getting control of.

A 50 Meter fenceline array of Hawthorn and other less prickly customers.

(“prickly customers” = Different tree or shrub species – Simon only thinks about Bonsai when around trees and shrubs – Clarification from Shadow)

The Hedge wasn’t overly high; so no ladder work today! 🙂

Just had to tame it back a foot or two to around my waist height. Still hard work in the full sun of midday and out in lush open Rutland Scenery to rival many places around the world.

That and so much more got the pleasure of my company today.

The Hedge got seriously taken down and cut back to fit. ThenI started to Face and square it up in line with the driveway edge.

Required to bring them inline with the fence they are eventually sheltering and filling in; so they required training back to fit in with the fenceline and then plump out and fill the voids that are between the planted Trees selected by the Client and already establishing.

As well as the self seeded and windfall seeds blown in over the seasons. Which are quite a few in number and variety! 😀

Clipped and trimmed a little below the required height to start reducing the structure of the material. As well as reduce the dense upper thickness of the leader and other upper tier trunks or branching.

So a formal line or shape can be established as the material starts to bounce back from a good formative session with the petrol power tool from Mountfield. The new material growth will be much thinner and quicker to grow; also to carry on clipping and training so ramification occurs and the top is lush and thick. Then when kept in check the growth will then start to spread out to other areas that need filling in; as that will allow more energy production so encourages the material to fill in bald or blank areas of foliage or twigs and minor branching.

I will go back and do the after care package on my next visit. So the Hedge will get fed at the roots and also misted with a foliar feed to ensure it doesn’t struggle due to the loss of leaf and bulk of energy producing foliage. It will also reduce the water burden on the material in the upcoming heat.

I walked the hedge prior to clipping and checked for bird and nest signs –

Even though the material wasn’t really thick enough or a typical nesting sight. I check anyway and give a close up visual inspection of the material I am about to work on; as well as anything in the material that needs to be left alone or avoided to prevent hardm to animals and wildlife but also to protect my machine and it’s user.