Border control

Recent storms have seriously worried our tired East fence. Hubby's made some emergency repairs but they're only stop gaps. It needs replacing. Strengthening one's borders is just so on trend in Europe this Winter... *rollseyes*

We'll be delegating the carpentry to our mate. He's not due for a little while, which buys us time to clear away the shrubbery. This is double edged though, as we suspect the mature vegetation is now an integral, structural component of our shabby larch lap boundary.
 

There've been some hasty repairs during the Winter storms

A sword of power

The other year I bought Excalibur - a monster of a hedge trimmer. Time to wield it once more.

We've got 30m to clear so this is no time for subtlety. That goal has helped nip in the bud the usual dithering - no point in spending the whole day finessing the first metre; GET ON WITH IT!

We started with the biggest job - the North East border by the side of the drive. Even if we don't get the full length of the fence cleared, making a dent in this overgrown mass will be a significant step.
 

Before & After

Woohoo! What a difference. Some shape to that border looks great :) The fence, however.... :/

Discoveries

As we hacked through the thicket/border, some interesting things came to light. Now I think about it, I'm sure the TV gardeners have said that pruning is a great opportunity to check the general health & well being of your plants...

 

Disease

Bracket fungus on the broken bottle brush branch

In the depths of the bottle brush thingy there was a lot of dead wood. Not only dead but mushroomy. Looks like a large branch has broken near the base, & some time ago too. All of that has to come out, in case the fungus stresses the living bits.

New plants

Surprise! More plants!

Initially I thought "Wow, up to the yellow conifer all ready!" But when I stepped back, I realised I had unearthed a similar, separate, shorter conifer. Right. Just what this place needs...

Hard against the fence there was something else, but completely different. A clump of arrow straight, bright mid green stems. No idea what it is - it's bambooesque, but the leaves are wrong. I've cut it back to the ground & we'll see if it regenerates.

Litter

On the house side of the big yellow conifer I found the only litter stash of the day. I'm amazed there wasn't more. I used to find all sorts of treasure in the old hedge... but then that was a border with public land, so I've clearly not thought this through. Anyhoo...
 

Roof tiles, succulents &...

...a duck's head. Obvs.

Given the rather random mix of items, my best guess is they were dumped as the previous owners were clearing out... Who knows...

Team work & fitness

I can plan, but I'm also prone to getting caught up in the moment. If I've been putting a job off for a while, when I finally commit to doing it I tend to charge in headlong. But my energy is not boundless. When out walking, Hubby & I use a "percentage knackered" scale - if we're getting toward 50% knackered, it's time to head back. We had to instigate this cos I can be more stubborn than my body is able to cope with. Mind over matter is great in theory, but when the matter conks out, it takes the idiot mind down with it...

So, I would've done this job alone, bagging up the trimmings as I went. But hurrah! Hubby mucked in & tidied as I hacked.

1st load of several

And a bag of kindling for the fire

With the two of us on the case, we got the bulk of it done - all the way up the drive to the house.

There's a few bits left - at the side of the house & then by the South Lawn, but these will be a doddle as the borders are smaller & the plants less massive.

How heavy is heavy?

When I bought Excalibur, the reviews were divided: "Too heavy!" said a few. "Absolute pish" others replied. Of course, how heavy something feels to you depends on how strong you are & how long you're holding the damn thing for...

Excalibur is quite heavy for me, but has been fine as long as I take regular breaks to let my arms recover. During one such break in this job I realised my left hand was losing the ability to grip my drink - a sign of my forearm muscles getting a caning I think. Excalibur is a 2-handed sword, so my left arm was getting way more exercise than it's used to.

By the time we'd bagged up the last of the day's trimmings, I was proper goosed; a good 70% knackered. Fortunately the sofa wasn't very far away, so I adjourned there... for the rest of the weekend. Come Monday I was still pretty achy, & then on Tuesday my right groin gave out down the skate park - definitely not a place to be nursing flaky muscles.

Rather than attack jobs like the Tazmanian Devil, I wonder if I can get into the habit of 'little & often'...? Probably not.

A few weeks later...

Panels? What panels?

Another storm came in. Yep, those plants definitely were protecting the fence from the worst of the weather. Oops.

Ah well, less demolition required when the fencing folk arrive.

Update

New fence is in!

Looking golden in the evening sun

The fencers were super speedy & the new boundary was up in 2 days. Rather than panels between the posts, we've gone for individual boards, so we can smoothly follow the curves of the slopes.

Hedgehog hole all part of the service.

Much better, & the neighbours are happy too.

Over the hedge

Giz a job

Last Sunday. The whole day in. Yay! But which job to tackle? I could stay indoors & sugar soap the walls of the hall loo... Nah, let's get outside!

But which outdoor job? Both lawns were buzzed during the week so I get to pick something else - double yay!

Weeding one of the beds would be good, but I still don't know what half the stuff is. Plus the thought makes my heart sink as there's soooo much to do.

The previous owner, Mrs |H, clearly had maintenance fatigue too...

 

How do I re-home saplings?

I could do a round of sapling eviction. Living on the edge of a wood it's no great surprise that it wants to claim our garden for itself. We have lots of vigorous youngsters that will totally dominate if they stay. I'd really like to donate them cos it seems a shame to trash them, but I've not found anyone willing to take them. Any ideas?

Go with your gut

Finally I use the decision-making technique we've adopted since moving - fix whatever's pissing you off the most. & casting an eye over the South Lawn, it's the overgrown hedge from next door. Don't get me wrong - the neighbours have done a fab job of keeping the level to about half a meter above the fence, but the hedge now overhangs on our side, & this house had been empty for a while before we moved in, so it's got a bit big...

The South East corner needs a haircut

 

It's so dark in that corner, Hubby thinks it's hampering the health of the Cherry tree that's down there. This member of the jury remains unconvinced about that theory but it'd be cool to neaten up that bit of the hedge. So let's have at it & test the Cherry theory - we can do science, us!

Getting cracking

First cut, along the fence line.

 

I kept a close line along the top of the fence.

 

Some of the panels have fallen in a bit, another sign of how unruly the hedge is getting, so we didn't think the folks next door would have any problem with this wrangling plan, but just to keep things friendly, we felt we needed a chat before tackling the biggest bit. However, the neighbours were out so I kept going with non-contentious bits.

As I pruned back, I discovered 2 shrubs. Unlike the lovely soft beech hedging, both of these were spiky spiny buggers. One was a large hawthorn, & its thorns were absolutely viscous. Time to get the welding gloves out.

Ouch! These guys take no prisoners.

 

Opps... we've found more garden...

Cutting it all back reveals a whole new corner of garden... I'm now wondering how wise this pruning plan was, cos the garden is already big enough!

I could hear Hubby talking, & twigged he had caught the returning neighbours. They gave the big trim their approval, so we started on the last bit.


The off-cut mountain grows...

 

Biggest last

The best point to cut the last big stem was over their side of the fence. With the neighbours' blessing in place, Hubby tied a rope above the cut, then I got busy with the saw.

I'm feeling the urge to stick googly eyes onto this pic...

 

As the branch started to fall, Hubby gave me the heads up. I ducked out of the way & he pulled it to safety. Like a well-oiled machine... ;)

Now we've just got the clear up to do...

Clear up operation

I hate the word 'just'. It's rarely true, & in my gardening experience, the clearing up always takes much longer than the job itself. I often try to clear up as I go, but those good intentions often evaporate once I'm stuck into the job.

There's a wheelbarrow under there somewhere...

 

We needed a strategy to process the huge pile of trimmings, so we set up a 4 pile system:

1. Composting leaves & twigs into the dumpy bag.
2. Firewood twigs into the round black bin.
3. Chunkier firewood into a pile.
4. Aggressive stuff (brambles, thorny things) into the garden waste wheelie bin.

Off-cut processing production line

 

Take a break

Half way through the heap & we're getting tired. The sun's come out, my head is starting to bake, & Hubby's getting blisters from all the snip snip snipping. The compost bin is full, the garden waste wheelie bin is almost full. We have a break while we reconsider our options.

Snax!

 

"How about we fill the dumpy bag and take it to the tip?"
Genius! Half & half seems fair to me. The rest of the trimmings can go onto the municipal compost heap.

Put a bit in, take a bit out

Talking of which, I totally failed to find any peat-free compost this week, but a friend reminded me about council compost. £3 a bag from the tip - bonzer :D We'll see how it is.

Why is it labelled "Soil conditioner", not "Compost"?
Should I be worried?

 

Job done

Stepping back, we start to realise what a big difference today's trim has made.

Before & after

 

1. We can now see the woods to the East, extending our views out.
2. This corner is in the South East, so when you stand here & look West across the garden, you'll get the last the evening sun before it snicks behind the house. Prime seating location I reckon, cos I love a garden seat, me.
3. It gives us a clue what sort of changes we'll get in this garden when we lower the Big Beech Hedge that is our Southern boundary.

That day gets ever closer, but we'll need help with that job...