To think a hedge would be too much maintenance?

[ballanson]

I have a fence at the bottom of the garden which has seen better days and behind it is the people over backs hedge which the fence holds back.
If I was to remove the fence and not replace it then the hedge would still keep the border and possibly look nice but would I be making hard work for myself if I then had a hedge to maintain and strim?
What would you do?
Yabu - just have the hedge as a border
Yanbu - replace the fence

We have a hedge and the only maintenance we do is trim it once a year once nesting season is over. It's a half hour job with electric hedge trimmer including cleanup. I much prefer it to fencing which, on the whole, needs more maintenance with paining every couple of years.

Thank you, I could live with half hour once a year.

Mine need trimming every fortnight in the summer . Maybe it varies depending what the hedge is grown from ?!

We have a hedge dividing our front garden with our neighbours. It definitely needs maintenance more than once a year. Foxes use it as a cut through so the lower half is quite bare. You should also check whether the feeds of your house require you to maintain a boundary fence.

Massively depends how long/wide/tall the hedge is. We used to have probably 150ft of hedge and it used to try and get to about 15ft high. Cutting it back was 4 person days of work and left you with aching arms and back.

If it's 15ft long that's a different prospect altogether!

Worth remembering you can't touch it through spring and summer usually, sure to nesting birds, so if you want a super tidy look it might not be for you.

Lovely for increasing biodiversity and providing routes for wildlife though.

Hedges are usually easy, we just trim in late august/early September each year. Just don’t plant box, the caterpillars destroy it, picked dozens off this weekend

I trim my bush twice a year, lol.

Very much depends on length of hedge and species and most crucially height - too high and it’s a major job . Ours is all hedge on each side - it does take quite a bit of maintenance but looks lots nicer than a fence . Unless you want it to take over your garden it’s easier to keep it trimmed more regularly than once a year . DH has electric battery hedge trimmer which helps . Neighbours pay for theirs to be cut once a year which takes a good few hours so must be pricy

What hedge is it?

If you take your fence away it may be patchy behind due to lack of light.

I have quite a few different types of hedges, see username 😂 Two blokes come yearly and we tidy up the smaller ones ourselves.

I love mine and need to replace some dying privet, going with hornbeam, slower growing and keeps its leaves.

Depends what type of hedge it is, the height and how picky your neighbours are. My Mum has tall conifers and they get done before and after nesting season. Her new neighbour hates how tall they are, so that's caused some issues. I have shorter privet hedges at the shared boundary with my neighbour.

In theory they're not an awful lot of work, but my neighbour is really pernickety about cutting them every week then getting on at us to do the same. If your neighbour is less nuts then it shouldn't be a problem.

If you go ahead you should advise your neighbours that you will be removing the fence, in case they rely on it to keep any pets contained.

I’m ashamed to say I have no idea what hedge it is (it’s green and leafy)

Can you take a photo and upload it OP?

I vote for just hedge because it’s so beneficial to wildlife

Questions to ask yourself
Will it still be easy to identify the boundary?
Is there any animals or children that need to be kept in/out.
Gappy thin hedge (esp if it sheds it's leaves in autumn)
Potential louder noise from back neighbours because of lack of fence filter
Neighbours might be planning to remove hedge and you'd be left exposed.
Security. Hedge and fence is better than just hedge.

As a professional gardener in a past life I say you need to go online and work out what plant(s) the hedge is. Because the type of plant determines how often it needs to be cut.

Beech for example just once/twice a year. Conifers potentially monthly or more. Privet 3 or 4 times a year

Plus remember weather plays a part. Wet and warm lots of growth.

And your acceptance levels of what is neat enough.

My hedge isn’t even big, but it takes a lot longer than half an hour per year. It takes longer than that to collect up the trimmings for doing the side facing the pavement.
It needs cutting every couple of weeks ant least and it’s an arm workout holding the trimmer to do the top, I have both sides to do too!
The birds love it though, so it’s preferable to a fence. Not sure how I’ll manage it in a few years though tbh.