What would we do without friends. Well, for a start, I would not have a full wheelie bin of green waste nor a full trailer load of weeds, grass and ivy. With my issues this year, I have just managed to keep up with the front garden. It is (mostly) weeded and the vegetables and fruit trees have been sorted, eventually. Sort of.
The back yard is another story. My gardening tasks are many. That is alright, as this is my choice. I am the gardener. My husband is not. His jobs are to handle the grass and lift heavy things (my back is not the best.) He lifts or sack-trucks the heavy pots and bags to a spot where I can access them. He mows, whipper-snippers and supposedly removes the grass from the garden beds.
We have kykuyu grass. I am sure it is an alien or at least an alien weapon to keep humans so busy that we will not see the mothership arrive and attack. Let us just say that the back yard has been overrun by aliens. Some before shots:
The last photo, of the paved area out back (beyond the pergola in the first photo) is not really a true picture of how back the grass had overgrown (I had forgotten to take a before photo). If you look at the second photo (with the spade) , the area looked more like this!
We decided that this was all too much to handle for just me (with my back – and other – issues) and for my poor hubby, so we decided to invite our friends to a Garden Blitz. We chose this weekend, as council green waste collection is next week; we can empty our trailer at the free monthly green waste ‘drop off’ at the council dump and not pay for a skip. Unfortunately it the same weekend as a large interstate convention (which many of our friends were attending). Bad timing!
We did end up with six of us, toiling away in the 30 deg C heat. Fortified with cool drinks and a beautiful breeze to cool us, we managed to get two thirds of the preferred culling done!
We eventually sat down to a delicious dinner (chicken and eggplant) with entertaining conversation. I am so blessed to have friends that will help out. Even more so, that I have friends.
The sore muscles will resolve in a few days but the memories of the day and the friendships will last much, much longer.
Obligatory ‘after’ photo:
