Other People's Garden

By Alternativeeden @markngaz
It was a long, hard working week and with the weekend looming I was looking forward to our downtime which includes doing some gardening. Spring is just around the corner and increasingly there are things that needs doing in the garden and last weekend would have been a perfect opportunity to get some of them done.

I wonder what's the story behind this bird feeder?

Then Gaz drops a surprise...we have agreed to spend the weekend sorting out 'other people's garden' instead. That didn't go down well to say the least.

But it was one of those situations that no matter how much I moaned (I'm allowed to be grumpy on our blog once in a while) there was no other choice but to do it, whether I liked it or not.


Flimsy, not so sturdy kit arbour. I bet this wasn't cheap.

Sigh! So tired from the working week and now a weekend working in somebody else's place, great! Oh well...better get stuck in... (BTW, it's a unique situation and no one will be offended with my expression of annoyance. If it was to help someone in need within reason I would have been more than happy to help even if I'm tired).

It's very rare for me to do any gardening in other places apart from ours. This will be a sort of a new experience and viewing it that way has taken the edge off my initial hesitations. No point being annoyed, the task won't go away so best accept it and play with the situation.


Overgrown ivy as usual

Brambles...

Protecting junk within its thorny arms

Seeing the task on hand, which was mainly clearing out rubbish and cutting back overgrown plants I had instant thoughts on how it must feel and be like to do this for a living to, clear out and sort somebody else's garden. Hmmm....

How not to treat a leather sofa

Or is this a whimsical planter?

I wonder what was here before, a shed perhaps?

It wasn't too bad in the end and to be honest I've seen gardens in worst state, like having rusting cars and old washing machines in it. And most of the garden was in a reasonable state and not overgrown. Indoors, the houseplants have fared better, well maintained even considering the fate of some of the outdoor plants in pots. Looking around there were traces that at some point in the past it was a loved garden that was used for relaxing and spending time in. 

At least the houseplants fared better

Traces that it was a relatively well maintained garden, approximately mid noughties

Bye bye sofa!

Timberrrr!!!

Ribbit!

The mini house had to go, the rest stayed

Other back gardens are tidy and maintained, and a nice quiet area with a mix of 1930's, 1990's, and new build houses. It'll be interesting to see how well those modern houses age.

Boy did we work hard last weekend (not just in the garden, the house too) and so glad that most of the tasks have been ticked off. Not sure about doing it for a living though, happy to remain a clinician for now.
Mark :-)