We butchered the garden again today...

We got a notice in the mailbox this past week notifying us that we had two weeks to cut back the bushes and overhanging branches outside our fence line.  To say that Dave and I are not is an understatement!  Dave's parents were enthusiastic gardeners, and mine were not, and yet even with these differing models as children, this is a topic that Dave and I agree unanimously on.  Gardening sucks great, hairy dogs balls!

But the cutting back had to happen, and as we are stoney broke and only have enough money set aside for the gardener to cut the grass and do some extensive and very necessary spraying, we knew we couldn't ask him to also do this arduous undertaking for us.  So, Dave borrow a pair of loppers and a pair of secateurs from his mother - who was no doubt beside herself with glee! - and today we did the deed.

I didn't think of taking photos until the first lot of cutting back had been done, but you can see from the clippings how big the job was...

Outside the front fence on either side of the front gate.

Outside the side fence, taken from both ends of our property line -
it's a bloody long strip!

I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with the idea of using an old
sheet to haul the clippings to the compost - because we don't have a wheebarrow!

Dave and Erik pulling apart the dead tree in the front yard that had finally
collapse in the last big storm.  Our tree of Gondor is GONE!

I finally got to giving the vine-bush monstrosity in the back yard a time -
now Bryn can go play without be "attacked by the tree, mum!"

Luey hauling the cuttings from the tree to the
compost!

We're going to be sore in the morning!  Stu the gardener is coming next week to give the grass another go - can you see the basketball hoop down in from the garage?  It does have a base, you just can't see it for the sea of grass - there is actually a DRIVEWAY leading to the garage right there, but it's overgrow by buffalo weed grass!