Tidying the hedge

One of the hawthorn hedges I'd planted was looking pretty messy:

Before

Although the whips had mostly grown well, the grass was growing out of the spirals and impeding them. A few hours work and many barrows of woodchip later and I think you'll agree, it looks much tidier:

 

After

It's getting a bit late as of time of writing to trim them - I think I'll let them grow for another year and then cut them back to encourage bushier growth at the bottom. If I understand correctly, the trimmings can be pushed into the ground as a "quickset" hedge to thicken things up even more.