Treework

Maintaining trees on my property is an ongoing job. If it’s pruning fruit trees or trimming off the odd limb that gets snapped off in a storm, I can usually handle those jobs. But from time to time bigger jobs arise that I simply can’t do on my own, as was the case earlier this year.

Following a rather severe storm a couple of years ago a huge pine tree up the back of my place had a large limb, high up in the tree, snap off. It had been dangling precariously for a couple of years, which was becoming a bit of a safety concern whenever I was walking underneath it in that part of the garden.

I had hoped a future storm would dislodge it fully, half hoping it would come crashing down by itself so I wouldn’t have to pay to get it dealt to, but that didn’t happen.

So I decided to get an arborist friend of mine to come and trim off the broken branch and at the same time remove a few of the lower lateral branches which I hoped would also let more light in the garden.

 

So, after clearing a safe area to work at the base of the tree, he slung a piece of rope up over a high branch then abseiled up the tree with a chainsaw and started cutting. Here was a man impressively skilled in what he does! Within a very short time he was dropping each cut limb perfectly on the ground just where he wanted it.

Before long there was a huge pile of wood gathering below which I (as ground assistant) was clearing away so he could continue working safely. I was amazed at how quickly he got the job done, so while I had him there, I had another job in mind for him to do.

On my property I also have some very tall Ti trees (Kanuka) that have started dying off. When that happens the branches become very brittle and easily snap off in high winds. Neil made it look easy but you can tell by the expression on his face, it was anything but. You need to be very physically strong and agile to do what he’s doing. I was super impressed with his accuracy, as immediately below I had many plants and shrubs that I feared would get damaged with falling branches and debris. But he managed to carefully lower each and every branch onto a clear area of ground only 2 or 3 square metres in size and nothing got damaged.

Inevitably, there was a huge pile of branches to clean up, which required me to expand my firewood storage, so I knocked together a drying rack out of waste timber I had lying around.

This should keep us stocked up for a while.

But better still, all this work has created a nice clear well lit area in the garden where we’re now thinking of putting a few chickens.

That’ll be next.

Lawnmowing

I’ve been mowing lawns my whole life, starting from when I was a teenager back in the 1970’s.

My father had me mowing our rather large lawn which was a chore I shared with my older brother using my Dad’s old Masport mower. It wasn’t long before one of our neighbours (an old lady) agreed to have us mow her lawns for a small fee. Her lawn was even bigger than ours and we used to do it for about $8 which was pretty good pocket money back then. She supplied the petrol and the mower which was a Victor mower. We took turns at first until my brother lost interest, then I did it regularly myself.

I’d far sooner mow the lawn than do housework if it came to a choice between the 2 so needless to say even when I went flatting as a young person it was usually me mowing the lawn in most of the places I  stayed. These days I still get a sense of satisfaction from mowing my lawns at home. For me there’s something familiar and homely about the smell of freshly cut grass.

A couple of years ago a friend of mine who lives in a shared housing complex with a medium sized lawn surrounding it asked me if I’d be interested in caring for their lawns. Although it had been a long time since I mowed lawns for money, I decided to do it to help him out, as my other business interests were not that busy at the time. It turns out that the price I quoted them was less than their previous gardener was charging, so they were very happy for me to do it.

After doing it regularly for a few months I started thinking about perhaps taking on 1 or 2 more lawns in the area and then spending say 1 day a week caring for lawns to help supplement my income. So I decided to place an ad on the CLASSIFIEDPAGES website showing a few pictures from my garden at home.

The key to a nicely mowed lawn in my view is to always use the catcher. Although it usually takes a bit longer and requires more effort on a sloping lawn, there are 3 main benefits. 1. It looks nicer 2. Any children and pets that run around on the lawn afterwards don’t get covered in grass clippings and then walk them into the house creating more work, and 3. Grass clippings are excellent for composting.

So, I kinda feel like I’ve gone full circle, returning to the days of my youth. It’ll be interesting to see how it pans out. Click here to visit my lawn mowing ad.