The holiday shopping season has arrived, with Black Friday to kick it off. Lots of bargains around, and a great time to buy gifts for family members. If you have a garden, chances are you have a hedge – Thuja Green Giant perhaps, or some other evergreen. If you do, then it is almost certain that the person in your household who takes care of that hedge – trimming, feeding, watering during dry periods – would love something to make those chores go faster, and be done better. Are they battling with old trimmers, perhaps trailing an electric cord with multiple duct-tape repairs? Or still using that rickety old ladder? Shame! Start browsing the bargains to find some new, modern tools and equipment to help them do a better job more easily. If you are reading this, and you are that person, then give yourself a treat – you deserve it.

5 Black Friday Bargains for Your Hedge

• Cordless Trimmers – no more trailing cords, or noisy gas engines, with the new generation of rechargeable batteries
• Pruning Ladders – a three-legged ladder is a revelation for hedge trimming
• Hand Pruners – useful for thicker branches, and a million jobs around the garden
• A Load of Organic Mulch – perfect for conserving moisture and feeding your hedge (and the rest of your garden too)
• Trade in your old hedge for a new one – Thuja Green Giant remains the number one top seller

Buy a Cordless Trimmer

If you are tired of trailing yards of electric cord around your yard, or trimming a hedge surrounded by gasoline fumes and noise from an engine, then there is good news for you. Advances in battery technology mean that light-weight rechargeable lithium batteries are now perfect for hedge trimmers. If you don’t believe it, look at the professionals in your area trimming and hedges, and the chances are you will see them with battery trimmers. If it’s good enough for them, what are you waiting for? Look for Black Friday bargains in the trimmer department and go for real portability without heavy equipment. Smaller trimmers have the battery build into them, but if you have a lot of hedges to trim, consider a backpack battery. It will give you all the hours you need to get the job done, and it makes the weight totally manageable. Consider too that many battery trimmers are part of systems that include blowers, edgers, and other tools, all interchangeable. You can do all your garden chores quickly and efficiently with a single battery system.

We reviewed cordless trimmers recently, so take a look for more details. Once you switch you will never look back.

Climb the Ladder of the Professionals

The great secret of hedge trimming is the existence of three-legged ladders. Even many pros don’t use them, but these amazing ladders are certainly used by the best gardeners, not just to trim their Thuja Green Giant hedge, but for trimming all there smaller trees, clipped specimens, and for picking fruit too. If you have anything bigger than the smallest garden, these ladders are a necessity. Instead of a pair of legs at the back there is just one. The front steps usually flare out at the bottom for extra stability. That single leg can easily be slipped inside a hedge, letting you climb up and be close to the face. This is especially useful for trimming the top, where it makes it so much easier, especially if you don’t have really long trimmers.

More correctly called ‘tripod ladders’ or ‘orchard ladders’, these are available from several suppliers across the country. It is also much easier to put up a tripod ladder than a regular step ladder, because they are so much easier to make stable on uneven ground, or on slopes. Save your step ladder for indoors, or on flat terraces, and use a tripod ladder around the garden. We looked in more detail at these in a recent blog. Take a look and make the change – you won’t regret it for a moment. Indeed, you will wonder how you ever got by without one.

Hand Pruners – a simple but vital tool

Every gardener needs a good pair of pruners. Tucked into a back pocket, or in a sheath on your belt, you will always be pulling them out for that broken branch you come across, or for big pruning jobs. When trimming a hedge they are helpful for any thicker branches, or to tidy broken pieces, or to catch stray bits. Since you will be using them regularly, avoid bargains, and track down something worthwhile. Always use the type called ‘by-pass’ pruners. These have a single sharp curved blade that slides by a blunt, solid blade. Other kinds with a flat-edged blade landing on a flat second blade work fine when brand new, but the slightest chip or dent and they will tear the bark, instead of making a clean cut.

The classic gardener’s brand is Felco – made in Switzerland for pruning grape vines, but now the grand cru of pruners for gardens too. Perhaps a Black Friday bargain to be found, but worth every dollar, whatever you have to pay. Blades and other parts are easily replaced, so they last for decades, even with constant use.

Mulch – the garden Miracle Food

Honestly, we don’t know if mulch suppliers have Black Friday bargains, but hey, they are probably open to negotiation. In any case, a load of bulk mulch is the perfect gift for any hedge grower, or any gardener. Call local topsoil suppliers, who will usually have a supply of rich, organic mulch – from a local mushroom farm, dairy or stables most likely. If not, they may have municipal compost, or composted bark as a last, but still worthwhile, resort.

Mulch over the roots of your hedge – keep it a few inches away from the stems, and off the foliage – will conserve moisture during summer and keep the roots cool. It will also slowly break down into the ground, adding nutrients and materials that bind together the soil particles, improving drainage and air penetration into the soil. All these things are guaranteed to improve your soil, and so improve your plants, no matter what kind of soil you grow on. Use mulch all over your garden. If you are not already a convert, you soon will be!

Replace your old hedge with Thuja Green Giant

Don’t forget that plant suppliers have Black Friday too, and you can bet there are special offers on the number-one selling hedging plant, Thuja Green Giant. Renowned for its fast growth – three feet a year or more when young – and its resistance to deer, salt-spray, and drought, you can’t go wrong anywhere from zone 5 to zone 9 with it.  Allow 3 to 5 feet apart, depending on how quickly you need it to fill in. Measure what you need, and order now while the bargains last.

As the first snow begins to fall in the north, it is time to prepare your evergreens for winter, so they emerge in spring fresh and healthy, not dry and sad. It just takes a few simple steps, but the difference can be enormous.

5 Simple Steps to Help Evergreens Survive Winter

• Water them deeply and well – the first and most important step
• Mulch the root zone – it reduces soil freezing, and keeps the soil moist too
• Spray with anti-desiccant – these sprays create a water-proof barrier to evaporation
• Consider netting – it prevents breakage, reduces wind damage, and beats burlap hands-down
• Feed with potash – it toughens the leaves against the cold

What’s the Problem?

Even the toughest evergreens – especially in their early years – benefit from some attention in late fall. Most gardeners have experienced a spring when some of their evergreens came out of winter brown and crisp. They might have re-grown, but they rarely recover completely, and if it is a hedge, the result can be devastating.

The clue to the problem lies in the name – ‘evergreen’ – because it’s the way these trees keep their leaves all winter that causes the problem. It’s not that the leaves aren’t hardy enough to survive the cold. No, the problem is water. When the soil freezes it becomes much harder for these trees to draw up the water they need to keep their leaves moist. The low humidity and cold winds of winter cause water to be lost from the leaves, even though these plants have tough, waxy coatings on those leaves. If the lost water cannot be replaced, the leaves slowly dry out, and die. They may not change color until spring, looking green as winter ends, but the damage has been done.

Water your evergreens

The first and most important solution is watering – late, just before the ground freezes. No matter how wet fall has been, beneath the foliage, and especially where trees around your home are protected by the eaves, the soil can be dry. The more water in the soil, the less likely it is that all of it will freeze. If there is some free water left, your trees can much more easily replace what they lose from their leaves. Winter burn, as that dead foliage is called, will be prevented. This is especially important when trees are young, because the roots will not have spread far, or very deep, so they are dependent on a small volume of soil for their water needs.

So leave a hose running slowly for a few hours near the base of each tree, or if you have a hedge put down a ‘leaky pipe’ hose and soak the whole length. Slow soaking is much better than using a sprinkler, or hand watering, because the water goes deep, and the soil will be completely wetted, not just moist on the top.

Mulch the root-zone

Once the soil is wet, let’s keep it that way. A couple of inches of mulch – perhaps shredded bark, or even chopped leaves from your trees – will reduce evaporation and keep the soil damp. Put it down within a few days of that soaking, keeping it off the foliage, and a few inches from the trunk. Cover a wide area, so that all the root zone is protected. There is a less obvious value to this too. By insulating the soil surface you trap the existing warmth in the soil, and reduce both the time it stays frozen, and how deep it goes. In a mild winter you may prevent freezing altogether, which is an ideal outcome. That mulch can be left in place to conserve moisture next year too, and just topped-up each fall. If you use something rich, like compost, it will also feed your trees, and improve the properties of the soil over time.

Spray with anti-desiccant

It is amazing how few gardeners use a product that professionals in cold areas use extensively. Anti-desiccant sprays create a thin, invisible plastic film over the foliage, which reduces water-loss dramatically. They are widely used by landscapers after planting all sorts of trees, as well as for winter protection. Pick some up at your garden center, and spray while the temperatures are above freezing, but as close as you can to that first hard freeze or snow fall. Once dry – which takes just a few hours – they resist rain, but they can in time wash off. If you have a lot of winter rain, and there is a warmer period at some point in the winter, then spray again if you can. If you are not familiar with anti-desiccants, give them a try. You will be amazed at the protection these products give, on both conifers and broad-leaf evergreens like Rhododendrons, Holly, and Cherry Laurel.

Consider netting

In cold areas there is a long tradition of wrapping evergreens in burlap for the winter, but there is a much better alternative available, in the shape of netting. Black or dark -green, with ½ inch squares, it is invisible from a few yards away. It doesn’t destroy the look of your yard, but it keeps the branches together, and stops them breaking under the weight of snow or ice. Surprisingly, it also reduces desiccation injury, because by holding the branches more tightly together it slows down the passage of the wind through the branches – a double benefit. In spring there is no rush to remove it, while burlap can cause fatal heating-up and premature sprouting, both of which are damaging. Just try and remove the netting before new growth begins, otherwise it can become tangled, and harder to remove safely.

Feed with potash

Potash, the element potassium, is known to improve winter survival, and bring evergreens through the winter in good shape. Starting as early as October, feeding your evergreens with a fertilizer high in potash (the last number in the fertilizer formula), but low in nitrogen (the first number in the formula), will help the foliage hold moisture, and thicken the walls of the cells against cold damage. You should be able to find these fertilizers labelled for hedges and evergreens in fall, and they do a great job of giving an extra level of protection.

You may not need to do all these things, depending on your plants, and where you live. But they are all great ways of protecting your evergreens from the ravages of winter – a little care goes a long way.

Hedges – especially evergreen ones – are a vital structural part of many gardens. They define the boundary of our space, marking property lines and giving screening from the street, neighbors, and open spaces. Besides the practical benefit of screening, in terms of warmer gardens with less wind, there is value in the sense of enclosure they bring, and the definition they give to the space.

All these things motivate us to put in hedges, but while our intentions and dreams may be good, things don’t always work out the way we thought they would. As you look at your garden, taking stock and wondering if you should make changes, do you look away when your eyes reach the hedges? Are you embarrassed by them? Do they annoy you, thinking of the investment that didn’t pan out, and instead left you with something unsightly?

There are several common faults seen in hedges, and if you have them perhaps something can be done to save the day and turn that unsightly hedge into something attractive. Or maybe not. . . Deciding if your hedge can be saved, or if you should replace it, is the subject of this blog, and we will look at the different things you might see, their causes (so you don’t repeat your mistakes), and what, if anything, can be done. This will give you valuable insights in guiding you to the best next step.

Common Hedge Faults

There are several ‘symptoms’ of bad hedges, so let’s start with diagnosis:

• Doesn’t reach the ground – this is usually because the lower branches have died, since most hedging plants are green to the ground when they are new. Over time the lowest branches first stop growing, and then die. You may have had to cut them off, and perhaps you hoped the trunks would sprout again, but of course they didn’t.
• The lowest parts are thin and sparse – this is the precursor to the first problem and connected to it. Once you start to see little growth down below, which is easy to notice when you are trimming, and don’t need to trim the bottom 3 or 4 feet, then you are heading into a future with a hedge that is bare at the bottom, letting wind, animals and children wander through, and defeating he purpose of your hedge.
• The top is overhanging – as you walk by your hedge, you (or passers-by) collide with the upper parts, because it leans outwards. Besides the nuisance issue, if you live where there is significant snowfall, a broad top is much more likely to collapse under the accumulated weight of snow and destroy the hedge completely.
• There are gaps where branches or plants have died – this can leave ugly spaces, and really make a hedge look bad. This might be caused by disease, and its tempting to blame such outside forces, but in reality plants often die from overcrowding, and if a branch dies and leaves a big hole, there is something wrong with your trimming technique.

Why is this happening to me?

How do these faults come about, and how, with my spanking-new hedge, can I prevent them from happening again? These symptoms can be traced back to two issues – poor planting and poor trimming. Let’s look at each one.

Spacing

Putting your plants in the ground so you get a reasonable screen quickly, but don’t overcrowd them, is vital to a healthy, working hedge. There is a great temptation to plant those nice young plants almost touching, so that they will become a solid wall almost immediately. Tempting as this is, it is a big mistake. By planting closely together you increase competition between the young plants. They struggle to grow upwards, seeking the light, and two things can happen. First, the lower branches never develop properly, and soon die, leaving the bottom area bare. Secondly, slightly weaker plants become weaker and weaker, until they die, leaving a gap in what is by this point a substantial hedge. You can see how initial spacing errors relate to hedges that are thin or open at the base, and also to hedges that develop gaps.

Correct spacing varies, depending on which species of hedging plant you use. For larger plants like Thuja Green Giant, three feet or more is a good starting point. In theory, with a 12-foot spread, they could go 10 feet apart and still make a solid wall, but that would take time, and they would have to be allowed to grow fat too, creating a hedge that takes up too much room. So 3 or 4 feet is about right, although if you plant a staggered double row (a good idea by the way) then 5 or 6 feet apart in the rows would be spot-on.

Trimming

Most other problems come from trimming incorrectly, especially allowing the top to become wider than the bottom. It takes discipline to prevent this, as it is natural for a plant to spread outwards as it grows up. You should always be taking more from the top, trying to keep it as thin as possible, when you trim. If you just take the same amount off all over, a wide-top hedge is the result. Keeping the top thin prevents obstruction, allows more light to reach the bottom, and that narrow top is much better at shedding snow and not accumulating so much that it breaks open.

The second issue is trimming upwards only. You should trim in all directions, so that the branches have short, tufted ends, not long strands growing up. If a branch dies – and they do, even on the healthiest hedge – then it only leaves a small hole if you have horizontal branching. That quickly fills in and doesn’t leave the 6-foot gap a long, upward-growing branch will leave. Again, you can see how these errors create the symptoms we began with.

Can I Fix It?

So how many of these problems can be fixed?  A lot depends on the age of your hedge, and how advanced the problem is. If you are just seeing the lower part thinning out, and the top is only leaning outwards a little, then some tough trimming, combined with fertilizer and watering, will often bring things back. Remember though, that with the exception of yew trees, conifer evergreens cannot be cut back into bare wood, so there is a limit to how much you can reduce that top. If it is very wide, and an experimental cut shows only bare wood, then it is too late – start planning a replacement.

Gaps can sometimes be successfully filled in. Use the largest plants you can handle, and dig the biggest hole you can. This is difficult if the plants are close together, and you might be better-off removing another plant, just so that you can install a decent replacement. Pay extra attention to that newly-planted bush, and water it well, using liquid fertilizer. It will take a while to develop enough to hold its own against existing plants. Again, of you have lots of gaps, and a generally dilapidated hedge, a complete replacement may be the best long-term option.