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