Gardener

I came across some photos from when I moved into my little house last night. It seems like a long time ago now. Well it was over a decade ago. The garden looked so neat, tidy and manicure – a far cry from the lived in version now. I know I’ve let things grow a bit too much. It’s gotten quite out of hand. I love gardening. But in recent years, I haven’t had as much time or inclination to get out there and keep on top of it. I’ve prioritised other things I guess too.

The photos were a stark reminder of how bad it has gotten. The former owner is probably turning in his grave at the state of it. So this afternoon I made a start by mowing the back lawn. I’m going to try and spend a bit more time out there. I really need to weed my driveway. It’s more grass than gravel.

Having new neighbours is a bit of an incentive too. My garden won’t ever look like a Chelsea Show Garden. I’m not that good a gardener. I do prefer the more natural look. I do think it needs some more hard landscaping though so thinking about that.

I spent a fortune on my last garden. I absolutely loved it. I was gutted to see that the people who moved in had ripped it all out.

Still today it was Lawn 0 – Pip 1. Which was a better result than the football. So glad I rushed to get everything done before kick off…

Overgrown

I woke up feeling rather crumpled and pretty snotty. So I decided to have a restful day. But this is me, so it was active rest.

After a well overdue catch up with a good friend this morning, I ran a few errand and pottered in the garden. This corner was rather overgrown with ivy. It was starting to annoy me. Today was the day to clear it. Felt like I was going at snail’s pace though. Honestly, I am my own worst enemy.

It was only after climbing up a ladder and feeling really dizzy, I decided that maybe I should try actually resting instead.

See I’m growing. Even if I am still dizzy and feel like I’ve been punched in the face. Early night for me!

Trimmed bushes

Yesterday my next door neighbour popped round and asked if I wanted his gardener to give me a quote to cut back my hedges and bushes. They had gotten rather out of hand, so it was a good call.

Being British, I apologised profusely for letting them get so overgrown. They were encroaching on his driveway somewhat. He’s 96 and so lovely, I did feel awful.

So bright and early the garden crew was there and all of my hedges and bushes were give a rather dramatic post-lockdown haircut!

I can now see just how much they’ve grown and how congested the borders have gotten. I can feel a cull coming on…

Cutbacks

I may have gone a bit gung-ho with my pruning today. 🤪 In all seriousness, it needed to be done. This bush was so heavy it had fallen forward and was crushing the flowers underneath. It was taking over the border too.

It has been annoying me so it needed to go. I’ve done as much as I can. I need a bigger saw to cut through the trunk now.

Oh and I have to get rid of the debris. Let’s see how much I can get in my little car…

Overgrown

Today I laid siege to my back garden. I now look like I’ve been self-harming after battling some nettles and brambles.

The wet / warm weather has meant my borders have gotten slightly out of control. It’s looking slightly better now.

Full brown bin stopped play (or skirmish in my case). So I took Buddy out for a leg stretch.

I now need to plan my next attack on the front garden. I’ll leave that for another day…