15 Jan Perfect Hedge Maintenance Over Winter
Hedges are great because they give you privacy and look really great. They may even increase the value of your property if they surround your home, or give your business a neat appearance that may help draw people in. They do require maintenance though, and you cannot maintain them the same way every season. There are special steps to take for hedge maintenance over winter, but if you follow them closely, you will have thriving plants come spring.
Besides making sure they don’t die, you also want to keep your hedge in order because failure to do so could mean you are not in compliance with the law. If a neighbor or passerby sees them overgrown and blocking the view or even blocking people from safely walking on the sidewalk, they can file a complaint with the local council. If they do, you could get hit with a hefty fine, in addition to the cost of pruning back each hedge. So stay compliant with the law and take proper care of your foliage.
In winter, that proper care starts with assessing the health of the plants. Look for dead or dying leaves, or discoloration. These could be signs of a bigger problem that needs to be attended to immediately. If you don’t fix the issue, it could spread and infect the rest of your plants, which could be catastrophic.
If every plant is healthy, then you must mulch next. Start by removing any leaves, sticks or rocks from underneath each hedge. Not only does this make the plants look better and your yard look cleaner and well kept, but it also preps the soil for the next step.
Then spread a nice, thick layer of mulch over the soil around each individual plant. This helps to keep the roots warmer during the cold winter months. You can go with dark brown mulch to match the soil, or if you want to go for something different, pick a colored mulch to make the dreary winter days a little brighter.
It also helps ensure the soil does not dry out, since winter can be very dry with little to no humidity. In addition, leaving the mulch year round prevents weeds from taking root, so you have far less tedious gardening work to do.
In the late winter, right before spring starts, you will want to prune all your hedges. This means you take a good, sharp pair of clippers and pare them back. This encourages growth once spring starts and helps keep everything nice and healthy. Do this before the plant starts producing buds, or else you may actually stunt its growth instead of encouraging it.
If you have a lot of hedges, you may need some help. There are plenty of professional services that are happy to prune all of your bushes for you. Many do it twice a year, so you can pay up front for one session or pay for a full year and possibly get a discount. Either way, schedule service early, as the pre-spring slots fill up quickly, and you do not want the schedule to fill up before you can get in.