Late yesterday afternoon, I started to work on the corner by the shed and realized there was an awful lot of dead debris caught in the branches of the nearby arborvitae. I grabbed on to a branch, as high as I could reach, and began shaking it hard. Tons of stuff fell to the lower branches, so I just worked my way down until most of it was on the ground beneath the tree. I worked on down the line, shaking branch after branch, tree after tree, until I had a huge pile of dead needles at the bottom. I raked out what I could get to with the rake, then did the shaking thing again.....more dead material on the ground. I ended up on my hands and knees, reaching under the lower branches to pull the piles of litter out from underneath. I'm surprised the lower branches didn't break from the weight of it during rainy periods! It was very dry and dusty now, so not the least bit heavy. There's still a lot under there, but looking at what I got out, it has to be much less stressful for the trees.
I filled two 33-gallon bags and a garbage can. I got the corner rounded off and cleared out, too. I have a large planter to paint and set in the corner to be filled with something pretty (I don't know what, yet). One more job to mark off my to-do list.
I see your husband helps as much as mine does. He does mow the lawn though. I guess it is something.
ReplyDeleteOh yes....when Mr. Granny decided to "help" one year (about 40 years ago), he "weeded" around the trees for me. Pulled out all of my grape hyacinths. I haven't let him near my garden since! He also doesn't know how to hold a paint brush, so that's my job too. He does mow.
DeleteMr. Granny sounds a bit like "The Italian". He knows nothing about the garden or yard work and I won't let him paint either!
Deletelol I wouldn't let my husband weed in my garden. Then no one is allowed to weed inside the fence. Too many self seeded things I don't want to go. No one but me knows which they are.
DeleteI shouldn't admit this, but I don't even like anyone to walk in my garden and leave footprints! I'm not OCD about it, but I have been known to drag the rake behind me as I leave the garden, so no footprints are showing ;-)
DeleteI have a lot of catching up to do since I've been too busy to look at everyone's blogs but I see you are still at your uber-busy pace!! That arborvitae looks great, and wow what a lot of debris!
ReplyDeleteErin, I raked out even more today! Those things got a bit bigger than we'd planned, I think we need to get out the chain saw and some shears :-)
DeleteAre you planning to compost that debris?
ReplyDeleteDavid, I don't have enough room to compost all that stuff, unfortunately. I just have a small compost barrel for kitchen waste, coffee grounds and chopped leaves, that I save up from spring cleanup, mixed with grass clippings. The barrel she is full!
DeleteMy husband does the hard labor for me...moving rocks, moving mulch, ripping out sod. But the "fine" work is left to me--weeding, planting, harvesting, transplanting, etc. Granny, I wonder if your husband accidentally ON PURPOSE ripped out those grape hyacinths, knowing you'd forever ban him from weeding??? lol
ReplyDeleteDorothy, I wouldn't doubt that a bit. Just like the way he splattered paint the first time I let him tackle a paint job, so now I won't let him near a paint brush. The man is smart, I tell ya!
DeleteI keep him around because he's great at opening jars for me ;-)