Pruning box hedge

I have been growing a little box hedge across the front of my what was once patio since 2007!!  It was planted to hide the concrete slabs which edged the patio.

2007

This means the garden side of the hedge appears 'uneven as the garden drops two feet diagonally from the left to the right side.  I have always intended that the hedge would be about 18 inches high above the edge of the patio and on a level looking from that side.

Now we have the conservatory it certainly needs to be in line with the bricks on the conservatory wall when looking from either side.

2015

Box is notoriously slow growing and here we are nine years later (well eight actually as this is a photo from last year) and we still aren't quite there but, at last, we are pretty close.

Every year I have cut it to shape with some hand shears and every year have had a blister the size of saucer on my hand to prove it.

This year I succumbed to a great offer (Groupon? £16.99) and bought some small cordless shears.  I admit to being doubtful that either they would be strong enough or that they wouldn't chew up the box.  Wrong in both cases.  They were sharp and efficient and did the job in about a tenth of the time and sans blisters.

I got my other half to cut me three pieces of wood and screw them together to make me a cutting guide.  I just slide this 'bench' along as I cut.....

and used it as a guide, cutting from the other side of the hedge and keeping an eye on the top of the bench to make sure everything was cut to that height.

The traditional day for cutting box hedges is Derby Day - first week in June - but really you can do it more than once a year and pretty much as often as you like in the growing season.  Otherwise like almost all pruning/hedge cutting the general rule is cut for growth in spring (March/April)and cut for shape in late summer (August/September).