Taming very established Wisteria

I know because of isolating and covid rules at the moment, but when they start back up, check out car boot sales and charity shops for your gardening tools. Seeing as you're pretty much going to have to buy everything, you can pick up some decent second hand stuff at a fraction of the new price....you'll have enough money left over for the antiseptic cream, plasters and muscle rub you'll need when you start to work out in the garden

 

I don't need to buy everything all at once, but will certainly look at good condition secondhand equipment when I need it. However, as a first garden purchase and treat to myself, I've just received a new pair of leather gardening gloves and quality secateurs. The overgrown days of the Wisteria and Climbing Rose are numbered.

Hopefully I won't be needing much antiseptic cream or plasters.

 

Looking serious! And beautiful view from the window.

 

Another good place to get them from are those shops at the tip. I found some brilliant tools at ours...decent set of 3 hoes and a rake...£1 each! They had some good heavy duty spade and all sorts - wish I'd bought them now. It's amazing what some people will chuck out.

 

Thought I'd give a little update.
The weather was nice over the weekend, so spent most of Saturday attempting to cut back the Wisteria. So far, working up from the trunk, I've taken off a lot of the whippy stems and all obvious dead wood. As of yet, I've refrained from thinning out and cutting larger stems (because I'm nervous).

For the next round of pruning, I intend to cut all extra growth back towards the main stems (2-3 buds) along pergola. Hopefully doing this will begin to reveal the skeleton so larger cuts might make sense…

What do you think… is this heading in the right direction?

 

Brilliant, Phil! Don't be nervous....you can cut as much as you want low down, as long as you leave 2-4 good, fairly thick stems running the length of the pergola

 

Well done @DevonPhil! I cut mine right back ready to reshape it over a new supporting arch. I've been ruthless! Yours looks great.

 

Ha @ARMANDII - I'd say its doing a good job of appearing quite nonchalant at the moment.

The base of the trunk does twist around itself quite a lot and seems difficult to identify one stem from another. @noisette47 - are you able to shed some light on how best to choose which of the larger stem I should remove.

Thanks @Snorky85 I think you're being too kind. It's a bit like me, in that our Wisteria is in dire need of a serious haircut.

I will say this. Gardening so far has been highly enjoyable. I would have got more done if it wasn't for my hands aching from making a thousand cuts. Cutting back the Wisteria is definitely a bit of a workout.

 

Good morning, Phil :-) Two words....marker pen! Start on the main trunks low down and follow them up and along.....If they bifurcate, choose the strongest to continue, and cut the other(s) back to a bud. (As mentioned before, if you want to create a 'ladder' effect, tie in some of these spare stems laterally, then prune to length required).

 

Here's a little update:

Thank you everyone for the Wisteria advice. It's taken a long time (inbetween working and bad weather) to get the job (almost) done. I've cut out some large branches from the trunk and pruned back 90% over the overgrowth.

My next tasks are to train all wayward branches back against the pergola, and cut the end most stems once I understand better how to cut back the climbing roses (I'll create a new thread for this task).

Thanks

Before and after…

 

Looks a lot tidier , yep tie the rest of the branches down what a sticking up and it good to go for the coming season . remember to prune in July / August long shoot back to 6 buds .

 

Two buds. Three absolute maximum. Well done Phil!

 

@ARMANDII Yes thank you. I've learnt a lot as well as grown extra forearm muscles.

Sure it still needs to be trained as @Perki described above, but the pergola is starting to take shape.

On advice I was given here, I also acquired a huge set of secondhand reconditioned vintage gardening tools from a nice chap in Exeter for £30. The grass edging sheers are worth more than that alone.