Dealing with overgrown plants

However, if a plant has become very overgrown, more drastic action is needed – you'll need to remove some of the stems and reduce the rest by a third or a half.

Here's how to rejuvenate an overgrown shrub, a large hedge and a neglected apple tree.

Rejuvenate an overgrown shrub

Cut out the thickest, oldest stems from the base, using a pruning saw or loppers. To prevent tearing a heavy branch, make a first cut, about 30cm above the final desired cut. Remove the oldest wood – up to a third of the stems – each winter, leaving the rest to flower, and cut back any crossing branches. Then reducing the remaining wood by half after flowering. Don't worry if you can't see any buds – hard pruning stimulates new shoots from under the bark. This works well on forsythia, mahonia and viburnum.

Reduce a large hedge

Many popular hedging plants can be given a very hard rejuvenation prune and respond well. Beech, privet, hornbeam, mixed native hedges and yew can all be cut back very hard to near the main trunk. Only tackle one side at a time, ideally with a one- or two-year break between prunings, then feed and water the hedge well afterwards. Coniferous hedging plants are a different story – this method works on only two of them, yew and thuja. Lawson cypress and leylandii hedges won't take hard pruning.

Sort out a neglected apple tree

Apple and pear trees produce fewer fruits with age. Borne high in the canopy, they are hard to pick and often end up as bruised windfalls. If you enjoy the character of a gnarly old apple tree, then leave it be. Otherwise, take a third of the oldest central branches to open up the heart of the tree and reduce congestion. Then shorten the lower branches by up to half and cut back half of the old, weak fruiting spurs. Remove any crossing branches to reduce congestion.