i want to cut down a privet hedge i can no longer keep it trimmed it is on a slope and i am getting to old

Hi Terence we cut down on overgrown privet hedge years ago and then treated the stumps with something to kill them... can't remember the name - hopefully B will. Worked like a dream never saw of shoot - good luck.

When you say cut it down, do you mean get it into a manageable state or kill/remove it? Could you not get someone to trim it for you a couple of times a year. There are schemes in the country where neighbourhoods help each other with gardening. We have something where I live, mainly to do with growing vegetables in gardens of elderly people who can't manage to maintain them and they get free veggies in return for using their gardens. If you posted an advert in the local college where there are horticultural students, they may be interested in doing this for you?

My Aunt had a privet hedge so large there was a doorway in it for access to next door, thick and very high. My Aunt was complaining it was cutting the light and taking all the goodness from her garden, what could she do. My father (A Farmer) took his hedging tools and laid it about 1 ft high and just one stem thick, Aunt nearly had a fit when she returned. But my did that hedge grow a wonderful youthfull lovely hedge. I suggest you look for an old craftsman with hedging tools!!

Personally I'd get rid of the hedge - privet is a gross feeder and will take all the nourishment from the soil.

I wouldn't get rid of it, it is a habitat for wildlife. Like Leylandii, you can nourish the soil around the hedge and plant right up to it by adding compost to the soil and growing plants that do not mind the conditions.