9/2/16:
Last Friday, as we were about to leave the house to go out for dinner, we got a text message from the landlady. She had decided to visit the house and inspect the yard... on Monday or Tuesday! So Steve and I spent the whole weekend tidying up the house and doing about 10 times as much yardwork as we might on an average Saturday and Sunday.
It had been 9 months since I'd removed the ivy from the wall behind the hedge that grows under our bedroom window. This is one of the landlady's pet peeves, so I cut the rosemary, oleander and other plants in this hedge to an even height, removed all the tangled blackberry branches, and crawled between the bushes and the wall to rip ivy off it. I wore my sturdy gardening gloves and a long-sleeved shirt, but got a lot of scratches anyway, and I'm still finding thorns in my hands and feet.
Other chores included edging the lawn, cleaning leaves and dirt from all the pathways, and digging weeds out of the grass and the asphalt paving. We filled the green-waste bin within an hour of work, and then needed 3 huge garbage bags to hold the rest of what we'd trimmed off, pulled up, and raked out.
This is definitely not the kind of gardening I enjoy, and I'm still feeling cranky about having to spend the whole weekend laboring, but what a sense of accomplishment! It's also great to have all my plants and outdoor spaces looking so well-cared for.
Clicking on the small images below will bring up a larger version.
The tidied hedge.
Pots along the pathway.
More pots, under the office window.
In general, the landlady liked the way the place looked too. Unfortunately she is once again talking about hiring a professional landscape-care guy to maintain the yard's appearance. I had been hoping to avoid having strangers on the property, doing things to my precious plants, but we are just renters, with no say in the matter.
I prefer my blog posts here to be fairly positive, with an upbeat and hopeful tone, but there sure are ups and downs in the gardening life. I'm done complaining for now, however. I shall spend this long weekend relaxing and enjoying the fruits of my labor, while feeling lucky to live in such a beautiful place.
