privet hedge

can any one help with what to do with a 20 year old hedge that has grown to 20feet around the allotment that i have just taken?

Privet is virtually indestructible and can take hard pruning

Cut it now to the height and width you want -it will soon leaf up again next year

Certainly will. Ours was so tall the telephone wires were catching in it when we moved here. It's a hedge again now

You might find that as the privet is a greedy feeder, it has taken a lot of the goodness out of the soil, so in the land near to the hedge you might need to manure/fertilise/mulch more heavily - the same goes for watering.  

But on ;the plus side, it will attract lots of small hedgerow birds who will help keep bugs at bay, and when it blooms it will attract lots of pollinating insect - I love privet - the smell of privet always takes me back to an idyllic holiday in Brittany years ago.

I don't like the smell of privet flowers but the goldfinches think it's a good place to nest so it's safe from demolition.

thanks alot, I will give it a good prune over Christmas,weather permitting, and look forward to a thicker hedge in a couple of years.

I would go a bit further than drama boy and cut it to less than you want then let it grow to the shape you want with new wood

it stands at about 20-30 feet tall, so will it take a cut down to 5 feet in 1 go?

I'm sure it will be fine if you chop it right back, remember "growth follows the knife", so it'll soon be springing up rejuvenated - as has been said, I'd cut it back lower than you want it to be - the old wood will throw out new shoots and you'll have a lovely new hedge before very long at all 

Thanks again, I just hope the weather is kind over Christmas and I will get it done.

You'll have earned a "sit by the fire with a winter warmer" after you've done that 

no doubt i will have to replace the lost fluids with a nice glass or two of red!

can you use privet for pea sticks as I now have lots of them

No reason why not- they might root- as is the law- but when it comes to using them that is unlikely.