Thank you all for the comments and helpful suggestions yesterday - Will, thank you, I'd forgotten about pernettya, we had one in our garden in the Midlands, lovely little white flowers and very attractive pink berries, I'll certainly consider having one of those. K, husband has now cut the stumps down to about 12-18" but can't do anymore without borrowing (or hiring) an electric saw - he had one but left it behind at the old house, which of course he's now regretting. The stumps that are left are just too thick to cut with a hand saw, it's too hard work for husband. Jayne, 50 leylandii!! What a nightmare! (I'm not a fan of them, as you can tell). Everyone else - yes it was blimmin hard work, but we're so glad we got it done, we are feeling a great sense of achievement.
Neither of us did anything much yesterday, we deliberately rested. Just a wash load put on, some hoovering done and I cooked dinner - chicken curry for husband, a cheese, sweetcorn and mushroom omelette with tomatoes on the side for me. For once, I didn't object to husband dozing in front of the TV, he'd deserved his rest. My back certainly suffered on Monday, but it's not too bad today - the muscle spasms have largely stopped and the weak disc only popped out once yesterday, which is a big relief.
This morning we've already been back out in the garden, doing a bit more work. There's a huge bay shrub which needed a lot of pruning to get it back to manageable proportions (luckily husband had actually brought his hedge trimmer from the old house!), and a little bit of weeding and digging over another small area of existing stone-walled raised bed, we're going to put tomatoes in it in due course. We were only out there for about 45 mins though before we had to come in - it's another mixed day of brief sunshine spells and showers, but there's now a bitterly cold wind and neither of us copes well with cold nowadays. Still, it's another little bit of work done, it's amazing what can be achieved in short bites.
We've decided to ask the neighbour who owns the small bit of land at the back of our garden (not a sheltered housing tenant, a young family who own the house and land) if they will kindly cut down one of their trees which line the edge of their plot, overlooking our garden. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but it's very big and totally overshadows our new veg beds, showering them with leaves and seeds. We've cut off a few of the lower branches but have no way of reaching the higher ones - it's way beyond husband's capabilities anyway. The guy seems very friendly and amenable, and has already said he'll probably have most, if not all, of the trees cut down and replaced with a fence in due course - he's got planning permission to convert the old barn on the land to a holiday cottage, some time in the future. As he knows we're sheltered housing tenants (and elderly!!), I don't think he'll mind cutting that particular tree down.
Another mixed weather week ahead - if only it would be consistent, at least we'd know where we stand!
I've got the monthly budget to do this afternoon, and some planning/lists.
Short bursts, weather and joints permitting, is the way! The stumps will soon be covered by whatever you plant, so not really a problem. I just thought they might rot quicker if they were covered with soil.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to have good neighbours. We've always been very lucky on that score. Just a thought, would your young neighbour cut back the stumps for you in exchange for some baking? Maybe if you mention that you'd like to get rid of them, but it's too much like hard work, he'll offer. If you don't ask...😄 xx
Make sure there are no birds nesting before he chops it.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing up your garden in a very smart fashion. Bits at a time with rest periods is the way to go.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Well done - it must make such a difference to the view. And good luck with the budgeting! Has to be done, doesn't it? xx
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