Cutting hedges

[Maxxy]

Hey all. Right, this may sound like a daft question, but cheers in advance for help.

when the best time to cut hegdes, tidy up garden plants etc? does time of the year matter too much, so long as theres not frost on the ground etc?

Eg, should i go outside now and do it, or leave it as it is till spring time?

I've also got an apple tree in my garden. It's only small, holds maybe 30 apples. Does it need any special treatment or fertalisers etc?

 

[sandwell]

Best to leave it until the weather gets warmer in my opinion. But of course it depends what type of hedge it is. If it is privet, lonicera etc, it will not be growing anyway when it is frosty, so no need to hurry.


You need a lot of fertiliser for an apple tree, I have never found any noticeable difference after applying fertiliser. The biggest problem is protecting the apples from maggots. Various products available at Garden Centres.

 

[Maxxy]

Cheers for the reply. Trying to get into the gardening side of things, might even start a vegetable plot!

I trimmed the hedges and conifers back a bit - read in another post on here that its best to do it before spring,cut back some of the thicker stalks, so when spring comes you get the new growth, thinner stems etc so its easier to shape, and looks better.

Well..either that or ive just massacred my garden! fingers crossed lol

 

[ModernMaterials]

Aside from special pruning for encouraging fruiting etc, the best course of action is to wait til the buds are just starting to swell to do your first cut.

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Sorry i missed the conifers bit so my last post wont have made much sense really.

its hard to advise someone on pruning conifers cus some like it a lot and some dont like it at all, best i can say is if its a hedge its been cut before but wait til it starts to grow before you cut it (if you aren't sure)

i have this bbc link for apples

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/pruning_pruneappletrees.shtml