All This

It was back in November when the Tall Flower Meadow was chopped down. I don't wait on any winter assistance for that section of the garden because that is where the main Under Garden of winter interest is planted, the part I can see closest to the house.

Further away things can wait. One hopes there are a number of crushing snows and wicked winds over the winter to aid in the chop down.

Then there can be a winter that wasn't and I have to chop down the thick remnants of last year's Lush without any help. I do this by hand with manual hedge clippers. One reason is I need to be careful in places not to chop the wrong thing. The other reason is by now the dead dried sticks of the former Lush are woody and hard to cut with a string trimmer and using a weed whacker turns that woody stuff into flying shrapnel. Not fun at all.

The snowdrops and other emerging bulbs are much safer when I use manual hedge clippers.

I can be slow, precise and delicate in my chopping when needed.

There will not be any accidents near the baby shrubberies.

The wild flower surround of the roadside vegetable garden is a major chop down of its own. At least the garden is almost fully dunged.

I have done all this now, chopped down two acres of meadow by hand. The acre and a half of the ridge top garden is left. That will get done this weekend I suspect. My decrepitude has been leering over my shoulder this week. I am weary. The chop and drop is being done in one big sweep this year as time in my work schedule and the weird warm weather has allowed.

Most years I have to work around winter and that spaces the process out over most of February. That is not happening this year. The daffodils are rising and I like to get the chop done before they are tall enough to really get in the way.

Something seems a bit off, like I did not get enough naps during blizzards and it is already time to start work again. How can that be?