Intro
Today, I want to share something different, and to be honest, many "gardening influencers" would never talk about this kind of task. But because I am not one of them, I am free to share this with you—haha. My plan is to make a few more of these posts because I have a lot of chores I did not think about before taking this garden. Also on today's social media it seems that a garden is luxury and it's always nice and chill. Trust me: it's not all the time ^^
But before I start: I don't want to complain or anything. I am 100% happy about my garden and also kind of happy about the chores I want to capture in these posts. After accomplishing these tasks I feel very proud and the work itself is good exercise.
Today's task
The task isn't exciting, flashy, or very techy (though I do have a tech recommendation later). It doesn't convey freedom, relaxation, or happiness. This task needs to be done regularly, and I always feel a sense of pride when I finally complete it after postponing it multiple times.
Let's Get to Work
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In my community garden, there is a rule that the paths in front of your hedge must be kept clean. This means no weeds or plants should be growing on the public walking path in front of your hedge. Last week, I received a warning from the chairman, so I had to act to avoid being kicked out of the community. You usually get two more warnings, but it's better to do it now than too late. The chairman and executive committee are elected every four years, and the current ones are quite strict. They regularly check every rule, regulation, and law, and you'll get a warning very quickly.
I generally follow these regulations on my own, but I'm always too late. This means I often end up with two to three times the amount of work, creating a lot of hard work, sweat, and frustration for myself. Maybe someday I'll learn from these posts and do the work when it's due to save time in the long run. Who knows?
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There was a big patch of grass at the beginning that I never dealt with, but my garden neighbor recently told me I had to. I cleared this part with strength and a sharp spade, ending up with a bag of very heavy grass patches.
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After 30-40 minutes, I moved on to the even more fun part: super small grass patches that you can't simply pull out. If the ground had been wet, this task would have been much easier, but I'm not very good at timing my work either—lol.
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After 1.5 hours and with the help of my mighty hori-hori (a Japanese gardening knife I highly recommend if you have a garden), I was done.
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The final part of this odyssey is always to rake all the remaining debris, then go over the whole area again, rake, and repeat until it's all cleared. Then, I put everything into a second big bag and transfer it to my compost heap.
Final Result
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I am exhausted but also very proud that I finally completed this task. Hopefully, I'll remember not to postpone it next time (in about 1.5 months). Writing this post has at least etched it more into my mind—so fingers crossed!
Thank you
Thanks for reading through. I would love to know if you are interested in this kind of content. Also please tell me what your most hated chores are when it comes to gardening! Maybe we share some and I can put more focus on these in upcoming posts haha
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What an original way to exercise xD which muscle ended up hurting the most? Hahaha you have to dedicate a lot to the gardens, more than a luxury it is a great responsibility, it ends up being the perfect place to rest from cleaning it hahaha a circular life.
I don't think I would be able to do all that, but I have helped a few times, although what I did most often was to sweep everything that came out. Quite a lot of work, good luck with that month and a half wait, set an alarm!
You are absolutely right - it is a great place to rest from cleaning it but a great place to BBQ with friends too :P Also every time I visit the garden I have a new zucchini to take home with me. I hope the tomatoes and beans will turn out good and many too.
My underarms have hurt the most because of the shovel action and lifting the bags of dirt onto my compost heap. But this goes away pretty quickly when you are used to it. Right now I don't feel anything anymore and it is only 2 days between it and now. This evening I am going to maw some lawn before I finally have some camper van vacations on my plan :)
Good idea to set an alarm - only thing is that I would need to set multiple alarms because of the other chores I will write about haha. But yeah maybe I set a recurring alarm for every chore post.... Thanks for the simple idea I never had lol
No wonder you got told off by your chairman you poor sod!!! The path is much wider now, I can imagine how much hard work you put in to clear it. It's a lot of pressure when you have keen gardening neighbours and they always put a lot of time and effort making their patch look immaculate. Don't leave it for too long next time!
Oh haha yeah I am a little sod :D I also feel bad for my neighbors who do work a lot more on their gardens. But most of them are retired and also kind of live in their gardens for the whole summer season. I look forward to when I finally retire and have more time but that's still a long way to go. Next time I will be earlier - I promise you, @livinguktaiwan !! :D
👏 Keep Up the good work on Hive ♦️ 👏
❤️ @palomap3 suggested sagarkothari88 to upvote your post ❤️
Anything unusual is welcome here! Thanks for the advice about the knife, too.
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A garden can be a lot of work indeed. The weeds often grow much faster than your crops (at least they do in my garden). And postponing the removal of weeds often is not a good idea. I also should make a round in my backyard garden every day to remove the weeds so they don't overgrow my entire garden in a few weeks. That would save me a lot of time.
You did a good job!