How can I prune a dead brown inside overgrown confider leylandii hedge

Question

As you can see form the picture there are 4 leylandii trees that have grown into the hedge.it was getting difficult to maintain these so in my own head I thought it better to see if instead of getting rid of it, I could prune it to look like a tree instead. so I started removing the bottoms only to learn than the inside is very much dead and brown and I understand leylandii doesn't regrow from inside rather it will grow green on the ends.

I want to keep the tree and make it more airy so it can continue to grow but not as a hedge. This will help make the garden look bigger and I can grown grass underneath it(whcih will also get sufficient rain directly theoufht eh water trickling down the trees) Any suggestions on how I can prune and get rid of the brown ?

Hope I am making sense here . I am not gardening expert but a big fan of DIY.

Answer 1

Normally the way to fill in gaps where growth will not naturally occur is to bend branches from more densely foliated areas to the empty spots. This may mean constructing some kind of rigid grid to tie the filler branches to. With more space to grow into the filler branches tend to grow a bit more vigorously. There's a limit to the extent branches can be bent in this way, but Leylandii tends to be quite compliant.

The extreme lower end could be filled with plant materials that will comply with a much reduced light level. So the idea is that they grow up to meet the branches you pull down and sideways.