This is the time of year to tackle those jobs that are long overdue and you can't do them in Spring or Summer. One of those jobs is hedges. Hedges provide an essential habitat for many species, birds, small mammals and insects. They provide shelter, protection and food. They often provide food when other plants are dormant for example ivy. Ivy, ivy, ivy, it is great in the right place and, without being checked, can get out of control and before you know it you have a monster on your hand.
The ivy has now put all its energy into the bushy flowers which is great for birds but not so great for the garden next door. There is no chance of trimming this hedge back at this point as it has matured to such an extent it is now a free standing tree rather than vine which would have been the original desire. When I say free standing it is using the main supports of the old fence and has grown around these in entirety
This is now thick that it would be impossible for birds to get in there as the build up of dead foliage and general waste. You can see the width of the ivy that has been cut around the visible post.
The end result is very satisfying as the ivy has a chance to push out fresh foliage and rebuild into a nicely tiered hedge which will allow plenty of birds and insects to make their home again. It does feel drastic at first but as I said in the beginning it's impossible to kill and ivy like this and it will come back with vigour pushing out vines rather than all the energy into wood.
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