2023, Family, gardening, Nature, Weather

The Lazy Gardener

36 Comments

This is the first year that I’ve done the major spring clean up without YA.  Even when she was very young, she could come behind and put clippings and yard waste into bags.  These days she particularly likes to spread out mulch; most of the seriously dirty yard work she leaves to me. 

It’s been rough to have her out of town this week – no one to pick up after me and no one else to sling around bags of mulch.  The fact that it is suddenly quite warm has been a shock to my system as well.  In fact, on Tuesday afternoon, after I had been working in the back yard, the idea of carrying the full yard bags down to the boulevard was more than I could stomach thinking about. 

The picture above is real.  I put the bags into the back of my car and drove them down the driveway to the boulevard.  So sad although to my credit, the car was already backed out of the garage and the keys were hanging right there on the fence.

Makes me think that if YA ever moves out, I’m going to have to bribe her big time to come help me with the yard every spring! 

What home projects do you wish someone else would do for you?

36 thoughts on “The Lazy Gardener”

  1. Ever since we hit our seventies, we’ve been shopping for younger backs to carry the burden. It’s harder than one might imagine. The neighborhood teenager was unmotivated. The landscape professional, a man not much younger than myself, has been available when we’re desperate, but has too much on his plate. The itinerant handyman looked promising, but he just went in for shoulder surgery. If YA gets restless, and decides she wants a change of scenery, tell her you know some old people with a caregiver’s apartment.

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

    1. I have six kids in the houses near me… ages 4-8. Not really old enough to try to hire. And based on all the activities that these kids are involved in, it’s hard to imagine they will ever have time to help their old neighbor!

      Liked by 5 people

      Reply

      1. Our neighbor children are in the early grades, but love helping us in the garden. Their “help” is a bit more work for us, but it is fun to teach them gardening skills.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

  2. That’s why I moved to a condo in an HOA! My back and the rest of my body didn’t want to mow a half-acre lot on a hill or shovel snow anymore. I love gardening so now I do it in planters and pots. The hardest thing is bringing water out without spilling on the carpet! Call me lazy. I just didn’t want to take care of that huge place in that town full of nightmares anymore.

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

  3. Husband did a fine job cleaning up the yard and hauling the yard waste to the city dumpsters. I hate clearing out the down spouts and rain gutters. This year I am phoning a power wash company to do it. We are too old to be up on ladders.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. We are getting new shingles this summer due to last year’s hailstorm, and I think the roofer is talking us into covers for the gutters.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  4. I also don’t like laying down the soaker hoses or the newspaper/ topsoil mulch between the vegetable rows, but I dislike weeding even more. We had too much rain yesterday to till the garden. That will happen next week. Then the pea fences will go up and peas will get planted. We can’t put in the tomatoes and peppers until after Memorial Day due to frost possibilities.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  5. Rise and Shine, Baboons.

    I haven’t hired anyone for a couple of years, but I found a lot of college kids advertising on “Next Door” for garden jobs. I may try to hire a couple of them to spread mulch at some point. I will have to do some of that later this summer. Also, doesn’t our Linda do some weeding and tending in the garden season? She might have ideas of services to hire.

    Puppy has the zoomies right now. I have to take her for a walk. Wow. Energy.

    Liked by 7 people

    Reply

    1. I found mine on Nextdoor, eight years ago now. I would think that living alone, with no animals, Clyde, you could probably get by with someone once every other or every third week. It’s well worth it, if you can find someone reliable.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I have been trying to go by women’s know who have a cleaner but they have been reluctant to help. Not sure why.I know they know the network. Agencies put me off but I will have to go that route. My back does not recover so I have to find someone. It is not much. Not laundry. Yes, once every 3 weeks is my plan.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

    2. everyone needs a house cleaner
      they get way too much pay like 50 an hour
      maybe it’s different in mankato
      i heard yesterday gov waltz is doing great in minnesota with a general acceptance rating abocwc54% everywhere but mankato where he gets a 28% approval
      i feel for you down in red county mn

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

      2. Hmm… that’s really weird. Mankato has always been a blue town but it might be that the more rural parts of Blue Earth county sway it to the red. Rural southern MN is really red. At election time it’s hard to be blue in southern MN. They’re not afraid to harass people who lean left.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

      3. I wouldn’t regard $50 an hour too much for a house cleaner, if they are working on a self-employed basis. First of all, if a house cleaner works an 8 hour day, probably only about six hours or less are billable, since they have travel time between jobs. So that reduces the hourly rate to about 37.50. Then if they are smart, they are putting 15 percent into an estimated tax payment to cover self-employment tax. If they don’t, they are probably going to be in for a nasty surprise come tax time. So that’s bringing the hourly rate down to about $31 per hour. That’s only considering self-employment tax, not income tax. They don’t have any paid sick time, holidays, vacation time, or short term disability. That cuts into the value of the pay further. Also no 401(k) with a company match. Cleaning people also typically have expense for supplies – cleaning products, vacuum cleaner, and such. If they are serious about the business, they carry liability insurance. Gas, and wear and tear on a vehicle. When you factor in everything, they are doing a demanding job dirt cheap.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  7. Where do I start? 🙂 Not a fan of climbing ladders anymore, so we hire window washers. I still mow and snowblow, but dislike both of those tasks. I’ll keep doing it until I can’t. Mowing’s not tough because our yard is relatively flat, but it takes an hour and isn’t fun on a hot humid day.

    I painted all our indoor rooms when we bought this house, but we’ll consider hiring someone for the next paint job, especially if we decide to paint the trim white in the rest of the house–it’s only white in my office and the guest room. Hard to paint over oak trim, but I think it would brighten and freshen the look.

    Chris in Owatonna

    **BSP** A new event for me tomorrow. The Springtime and Sunshine Festival at the Anoka County Fairgrounds on Saturday, May 13, 11-7. Most of the vendors will be indoors (including me in booth #67!), but some will be outside. Food, music, kids activities, dozens of artists and crafters, and maybe a few other authors besides me. I’m excited because this will be my first gig in the northern suburbs. **END BSP** Oops! Almost forgot to mention the BEER GARDEN! 🙂

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

      1. Probably not at the June 3 Northfield event. I’m doing my own formatting and it’s taking A LOT longer than I originally thought it would to get it right. I’ll keep you posted here and on my website and newsletter.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

        2. Krista,

          Downtown Northfield. Division St around 4th & 5th. Several events on Saturday mornings. A few Third Thursdays this summer. Check my website, chrisnorbury.com, and go to the Events & Appearances page for details and clickable links to all events.

          Chris

          Liked by 1 person

  8. To be be honest, the answer is: Almost all of them, including cooking.

    Hans has torn off our back entryway/shed, something that has been needed since we moved in in 1979. This past winter it got infested with mice, and the stench was quite overwhelming, so, ignoring it was no longer an option.

    We’re three weeks into the project, and as near as I can tell, it will be another three weeks before it’s done (if I’m lucky). Tools, and dust, and crap is all over the house. Meanwhile the garden is a mess, and I’m just trying to focus on that at least it’s green and not covered in snow.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  9. Last week we were in a burn ban due to drought, even with the record snowfall this winter. Since yesterday we have had 1.5 inches of rain. Everything is greening up and looking so much better.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply


  10. If you need some help…don’t ask me! But here’s a bit of music from one of my favorite bands to help pace what you must do…by yourselves.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  11. We just returned from 2 garden stores with 22 tomato plants. For the first time ever, the tomato seeds I started all failed. We were growing San Marzano paste tomatoes and Brandyboy beefsteaks. In the first store I found San Marzano’s and Brandywine tomatoes, which are the heirloom forebears of Brandyboy. In the second store I found Brandyboys, and I bought them, too. We will give all the tomatoes we grow and can’t use to the food pantry in the church’s name. We also bought canteloupe plants and beautiful red begonia.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

      1. It is prone to blight. They wonderful tomatoes, but you may need to apply daconil for blight control. Heirlooms are prone to blight.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

  12. This year I have to have help removing the large white pine branches that fell in the December snow. I also have to remove the fence around my flower garden which also came down. All the bush and apple tree branches that are down in the front yard. Luckily I have a friend’s husband who has offered to help in exchange for deer hunting on my land this fall.  Cynthia “Life is a shifting carpet…learn to dance.”

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  13. I wish someone would sandblast all the bathroom fixtures, or just put in a new bathtub – or one of those nifty showers…

    And they could fix the roof flashing where it’s pulled away from the wall under the eaves (not sure if I’m saying it right) – just saw that tonight.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  15. There are lots of things I’d like to assign to someone else. I’m thinking of the sump pump in the basement; I think it’s recommended that periodically you use a wet vac to suction out the accumulated dirt. I am sure I could easily do that myself. Don’t really want to, though.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.