"Fool In The Rain" by Led Zeppelin began to play in my mental jukebox.
I had been allocated another hedge to plant and it was a typical Irish mizzle day.
I went over to a friendsWest Cork farm and set about clearing vegetation and digging holes and planting more Griselinia hedging that I grew from cuttings and planted in homemade compost filled plant pots last year.
The You Tube videos and gardening books and gardening posts online tell you to get a mini digger and clear the vegetation with a mini digger.
Not me though I use my shovel and trusty Azada clearing hoe. I have always been good with shovels and mattocks. If you have an overgrown allotment or garden invest in an Azada. Apparently it means " hoe" in Spanish. They are that clever in Spain. Even the kids can speak Spanish. That's an old one!
When I worked on a golf course in England many moons ago. My work colleague and beer supping friend would say to me: "Dig Minotaur". I would dig ferociously with my shovel or mattock swinging in the air. I was half man half bull with a mattock or shovel!
Here Is my trusty Azada having a rest:
Well, we have a vacancy, although not much warmer than West Cork.
ReplyDeletePlenty of English beer available though.
Engish beer will more than suffice. I have my festival tent. Shall I buy a canoe and set off JayCee?
ReplyDeleteHaving such a small garden the one issue I don't have is weeds, only if I purchase a new plant, but then I pull out them when they are small. You are master of the hedge.
ReplyDeleteThanks Marlene for saying I am master of the hedge. I am always weeding most of the year. I think it's all the fym I use. Plus we live in the countryside by the sea on a sometimes windy peninsula. It's difficult to garden in between fields growing silage and the Gulf Stream is said to give ten months of growth. It looks like it is going to be another wet winter again. Even my polytunnel needs weeding again.
ReplyDeleteWe have a couple of those azadas. They're called tsapa here. Excellent for digging out weeds and their roots and digging holes. Even in hard dry earth.
ReplyDeleteTsapa is a new name Linda. I have seen council workmen using similar ones in the Algarve. I have also seen small ones sold in their hardware stores. They remind me of onion hoes. I am sure they make physical work easier in very hot climates. I have 3 Azadas. Two bought ones and one my son made. All of them are good for clearing grass and other kinds of vegetation. It's back to the mizzle here again. Oh for some of your sunshine.
ReplyDeleteI could do with another pair of gardening hands here!!
ReplyDeleteAzada is like the word Adze....
In Welsh a mattock is a Caib....and you can be Feddw Gaib....as drunk as a mattock...or even Feddw dwll...as drunk as a hole!!
Thanks for that GZ. All fascinating names for a mattock. I think it's a Graffan in Irish?
Delete"Azada" is actually a chain of supermarkets over here in Great Britain. Their slogan is currently "That's More Like It" which is probably what you say when you have finished a hedging job.
ReplyDeleteI think that's ASDA Mr Pudding. They are in the north but not down here. All that English ale.
ReplyDelete29 degrees C here yesterday and yes there is a gardening position open.... Grubbing out gorse to begin with. The Griselinia in our region is a large leafed one. I'll post a photo in due course.
ReplyDeleteGorse makes good firewood. A mini digger would root them out. 29 degrees sounds wonderful.
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