Battle With An Overgown Hedgerow (I'm winning!)

Yesterday, I tackled a huge yard project. We have a hedgerow along our driveway that has only had basic trims two or three times a summer for the past six years at least. Well, it had spread and started to take over the driveway and scare our guests, who probably wondered if they were visiting Jeff and Sarah’s house or venturing into the 'Wild Wood' (you must see The Wind in the Willows!). As I began my attack on the hedge, I did wonder what I creatures I would find living in it!
before pic
I was ruthless in cutting it back and told the hedge this was for its own good and that this seemingly cruel treatment would allow it to have more sunlight and better new growth. Still, the hedge fought back. It poked and scratched me. Then, it tried to break my clippers! About 10 feet into the job, I couldn’t close the clippers anymore, so I had to go into the barn and look for some sort of grippy tool to release the nut at the hinge on the clippers. I found something..a wrench or pliers? I'm not sure what they are! I didn’t know which way to turn it…righty tighty…lefty loose-y…oh, the other left! It worked! I went back to the hedge and showed it that it would not win. It was trying to become a wild hedge rather than an ordinary, suburban garden hedge. There were wild things growing in it including tree seedlings, woodvine and wild roses. Not pretty roses or delicate ones like you find in a tea garden. I mean, the ones with long, snappy vines that will whip you if you are not exceedingly careful. The thorns on these roses are like wolf teeth! They don’t even have large or abundant blooms to make up for how invasive and miserable they are. Despite its efforts to stop me, I managed to chop back an entire side of the hedge in one afternoon. It's the most important side too, the south facing side along the driveway. Jeff was pretty stunned when he got home from work and saw all I had done! I told him ‘Happy Early Anniversary'. Hey, what guy wouldn’t be thrilled at getting out of all that yard work? Heehee!

I hope to do the other side today. At some point, I will go back over the whole thing to even it up a little. I must admit that my arms and shoulders are quite sore from yesterday. It’s a major upper body workout to chop back an overgown hedge! (Probably wasn’t the best activity to undertake right before the 5 Boro Bike Tour!)
after pic
Oh, a dormant, spring hedgerow doesn’t look very great in photographs, but you can see what I got done. It will green up in the next couple of weeks and look nice!