Hedge Trimming in Eaglehawk on Tight Old Blocks

On most of the older streets in Eaglehawk there is no front fence at all, or only a low open one, which is exactly why so many cottages have a hedge doing the fence's job instead. Keeping those hedges tidy is not hard work in itself. Getting to them, working around the neighbour, the footpath and the powerline, and getting the clippings out again is where the planning goes.

Getting to the hedge on an Eaglehawk cottage block

The typical block in the township has side setbacks of a metre to three metres, and often one side is taken up by a path, a water tank or a lean-to. That leaves one route from the street to the back yard, and everything, from the platform to the barrow loads of clippings, goes through it. We size the gear to the gate. Long-reach trimmers cover the tops of tall hedges from the ground, so the platform only comes in where it really has to.

Shared boundaries are the other logistics question. A side hedge on the fence line usually belongs to both households, and the far side needs a trim too or it grows lopsided. We are happy to do both faces in one visit with the neighbour's say-so, which is usually easy to get once they hear the cost is being shared. Where the hedge fronts the footpath we cone off the pedestrian side, work in short lengths so the path stays open, and keep an eye on the overhead line, which on some streets is only a couple of metres above a well-grown cypress.

Clippings come out the way we came in and go through the chipper at the kerb. A long photinia or lilly pilly hedge produces a surprising volume; a full trailer is not unusual for a boundary run. Nothing is left on the nature strip.

The hedges that grow in Eaglehawk

Formal versus informal is worth settling before the first cut. A formal hedge is squared with a string line and kept a fraction narrower at the top than the base so light reaches the bottom growth. An informal hedge of pittosporum or viburnum is shaped by hand with secateurs and a light trim, and stays looser. Height is partly a planning question too: the neighbourhood character guidance for the older parts of Eaglehawk favours low, open frontages, so a front hedge held at fence height suits the street better than a two-metre green wall, and it keeps the footpath sightlines clear.

How a hedge trimming visit runs in Eaglehawk

1. Look and agree. We walk the hedge with you and settle the height, the line and whether it is a maintenance trim or a cut back into old wood.
2. Set up and protect. Drop sheets along the base, cones on the footpath, a word with the neighbour if it is a shared hedge.
3. Sides first, then the top. Both faces are trimmed to the line, slightly tapered inward, and the top is levelled last against a string line for a formal hedge.
4. Deal with the old wood. Where a hedge has gone leggy we cut back to strong wood in stages, never all at once on conifers, so it re-shoots rather than dies back.
5. Collect and chip. Sheets are gathered, the base is raked, and the clippings go through the chipper and away with us, or stay as mulch if you would like them.
6. Feed and water. A trimmed hedge is hungry. We leave you with a note on what to feed it and how often to water while it recovers, which in a dry Eaglehawk summer is the part that gets forgotten.

Where the hedge has become a row of small trees, it may be a job for tree pruning in Eaglehawk, and when an old hedge line is coming out entirely we can follow up with stump grinding in Eaglehawk. We trim hedges in the neighbouring suburbs as well: hedge trimming in California Gully, hedge trimming in Epsom and hedges in Bendigo. The main hedge trimming service page has more on species and shaping, and the Eaglehawk suburb page lists the rest of what we do in the suburb.

Hedge questions from Eaglehawk