Teamwork, Green Garden Bins, and the Great Garden Tidy Up

It was nice and sunny, so I decided to do a bit of gardening this morning, while I was in the mood.

On entering the communal garden, fluffy thistle seeds were flying all over the garden. I'm glad nobody had their washing out, or else the seeds would have stuck to it!

I spotted a bee stopping on a wild, spiky teasel plant to get some nectar. We have all sorts of things growing in our wild garden.

If you live with a shared communal garden, you know the score. Usually, only one person bothers. For a long time, I’ve been the default gardener around here, doing what I can to keep our shared green space looking reasonably presentable while everyone else ignores it. Recently, something amazing happened. I actually got backup!

Another neighbour stepped up and borrowed an electric trimmer to tackle our wildly overgrown hedges and shrubs. Having an extra pair of hands has made a difference, and the shrubs already look neater.

Although I wasn't very happy that the nicest shrub in the garden, the lovely purple ceanothus, only needed a trim, has now been completely stripped back. I'm hoping it will grow back and not go into shock. It's also created more work for us, as you can now see all the rubbish underneath that needs clearing away. It's my fault for leaving my neighbour unattended!

​Of course, no good deed is plain sailing. Over the past six weeks, we hit a big snag as our local council simply stopped emptying our green refuse bin. Week after week, the green waste was laying on the ground rotting away, while my polite emails went completely ignored. Frustrated, I finally escalated things and submitted an official complaint.

​Lo and behold, the bin got emptied today! There was no apology, but seeing that empty bin was satisfying, nonetheless. I didn't waste a second. I immediately cleared out the mountain of garden waste that had been accumulating over the last month and a half. Now, the real test begins. Let’s see if the council actually empties it on the next scheduled collection. If not, I’ll be sending another complaint.

​With some of the garden waste cleared, I was able to turn my attention to other things. I’d noticed dead leaves gathering in the plum slate I’d put down. Picking leaves out of the decorative slate by hand is a quick way to lose your patience, so I decided to invest in a little leaf blower. I was a bit worried about buying something too powerful. The last thing I wanted was to send slate flying everywhere like shrapnel! I managed to find a small, lightweight model, and it turned out to be the bee's knees! It has enough power to clear the dead leaves while leaving every single slate right where it belongs. It was quite cheap as well.

That’s all for today’s garden update. It took some effort, but the place is finally looking a lot better than it did. It’s amazing what a bit of teamwork and the right tools can achieve.