Warning: The following column contains graphic depictions of high intensity gardening.
There she was, right on time, rumbling down my gravel driveway in her little tan pickup, wild curls bobbing from the bumpy ride. My chainsaw-wielding garden hero.
Before much ado, Ladona, aka the erratic gardener, offloaded the tools for the day:
• Long-handled ratcheting anvil loppers
• Common garden rake
• Collapsible garden bag
• Orchard ladder
• Craftsman battery-powered chainsaw with six-inch blade
I had been looking forward to the dirty work.
Goals: Damage the hackberry (which I am told may very well resprout). Goodbye privet. Hello scratches and cuts on my forearms.
“While I run my errand, you might want to get started on the little stuff,” Ladona said after unloading the gear. “Get spot ready for the chainsaw.”
She must have read my face.
“We can do hard stuff,” she said.
I started with the hard stuff.
The pavement under the hackberry tree was wet and sticky. Aphid goo. The hackberry had been hacked over the years, but came back each year, limps poking through the geranium vines.
I went at the task like a 100-yard sprinter off the blocks. Grayish/white aphids in my hair, goo on my shirt and bugs writhing on the hair along my arms. Itchy and sticky. I wear glasses or I’m sure I would have had bugs stuck to my eyelashes.
Months ago I had asked Ladona if I could borrow her chainsaw. She said no.
I’m uncertain whether she was protecting me from self-harm or she simply enjoys obliterating small trees and shrubs with her own hands. Our plan was to eliminate, or at least seriously stunt, all of the overgrowth that did not provide shade to the house.
She cut and I hauled, eventually building a pile of garden junk the size of a minivan.
The privet gave me the most pleasure. Those privet seeds have a way of finding their way into all of my containers planted with spring-blooming bulbs. I find privet sprouts in the in-between spaces in the gravel. It grows in the potted blood-orange tree bucket.
The ratcheting anvil loppers became my new best friend. I own the Fiskar 15-inch hybrid pruner, with the titanium steel blade, which was previously my best friend. Ladona’s loppers had more bite and a satisfying click when the ratchet geared up for the kill. Branches long and short fell to the ground with a “whoosh.”
Then we got into some tricky territory, where the privet had managed to grow in and out of the four-foot high chicken wire that is my “fence.” Despite skillful maneuverings, she hit a wire and the chain on her saw popped off.
I was thankful she had not allowed me to operate the machinery. I would have felt guilty if I had knocked off the chain. I was thankful we could end the heroic gardening for the day.
She planned to go home, wash up and watch a YouTube video to learn how to tighten the chain.
Sadly, some of the privet remains, yet, we managed to do hard things.
Garden enthusiast Heather Hacking loves when you share what’s growing on. Reach out at sowtheregardencolumn@gmail.com, and snail mail at P.O. Box 5166, Chico CA 95927.
Click Here For The Original Source.
