Friday 1 April 2011

Should I or Shouldn't I?

Earlier in the week, whilst taking a break from the daily grind, I perched on my plank with a cuppa and pondered the recent request that I had been sent to do some garden work.


I had been approached last year by the managing agents, to tidy the garden of the same property. I'm not afraid of work as you may have gathered, but when I took a look at what work was involved, I did on that rare occasion decide to turn the job down. Not an easy choice, as money is money, but even I have standards, and the garden was in such a state of neglect that it had to be a no.
I remembered the state that the garden in these first few pictures was in when we took over, and how every corner has been transformed, but still I was not feeling very hopeful for this new quote.


The request seemed harmless enough as you can see (forgive the muddy and creased state of it). Remove existing raised beds, create a single bed along the rear, use what shrubs I can salvage, and returf any bare spots.


Maybe the garden had been completely tidied up since my last visit, and now some formative landscaping was all that was required. Raised beds?.......when I went last year it was so overgrown that I wasn't even aware of raised beds.......hmmmmmm!


Maybe I will go along and keep an open mind. And so today I first had a timber retaining wall to erect and treat, and then it was off to check out the job.

                         

The front of the place didn't look any different from last year, but let's just go up the side path to the rear 'garden', and see what's new.


Hmmm.........not a lot.......although one does now appear to have access to a washing line.


Most of the brambles have appeared to have been cut down, but apart from that nothing has changed. The 'lawn', as you can see is rubbish. The raised beds are the two shrub covered mounds that you can see to the rear of the photo.

The shrubs to salvage are the old and overgrown conifers and this old Buddleia.


Please note the surrounding 'lawn'

Nah!.......I think that I will have to give this little gem of a job a miss.......again!

9 comments:

  1. Know when to say when!
    You don't seem to be lacking for projects. Save your sanity.
    I do feel bad for the buddleia

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  2. Oh wow, that is making me tired just looking at it, good on you for saying no.

    Gee I love their lawn!

    ali

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  3. A few of our Tenerife goats let loose in there and they'd have it chewed down in no time. No Gary it's far too much of a mess for you to clear and rework without the goats to help! :-)

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  4. Sherlock,
    There are some jobs that say no from the start, and this was one of them. I do feel sorry for the Buddleia. A hard prune would have it looking spectacular this year.

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  5. Hi Ali,
    The lawn is really something isn't it?

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  6. Sharon,
    Goats, now there is a thought for some of the other places I look after....send them over!

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  7. Ugh! What a mess!! I might have taken the job if they paid me triple! :o)

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  8. Hi Casa,
    Nice to see you here. It was indeed a real mess. I don't mind a challenge, but that was too much of one.

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  9. I would think the only solution would be a JCB to scoop the whole lot out and let you start again from bare earth!

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