Hedge-cutting no shear
delight 26.06.09
I THINK I’ve always hated
cutting the hedge. Well, no that’s wrong, I know I’ve
always hated cutting the hedge and I was reminded of
this last week when I was, umm…cutting the hedge.
I’m not sure where this dislike has stemmed from, if you
pardon the pun, but for as long as I can remember,
cutting the hedge has been a garden chore that I would
put off for as long as I possibly could.
There are worse garden jobs - for instance I detested
weeding vegetable beds when I was younger - but for some
reason cutting the hedge has stayed with me as a job
that goes on the very end of my to-do list.
Perhaps it’s because I don’t have any vegetable beds to
weed any more (unless you can count a few lettuce and
radishes planted in a tub on the deck out the back) and
I do have lots of hedges and bushes to trim. |
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And it’s funny that while I
never subscribe to the theory that a wall is better than
a hedge, especially a well-maintained hedge, I find
myself thinking how much handier a wall or a fence would
be every time I have to get the clippers out.
To be honest that doesn’t happen perhaps as often as it
should do, and again this is not something I can
logically explain to myself when I sit down to think
about it.
You see years ago when I was growing up I used to be
sent out occasionally to trim the hedge with a pair of
hand-held clippers.
They were the ones that make that lovely clip-clip sound
when you shear through the soft leaves of a privet hedge
but I was useless at cutting the hedge with them.
My father would sharpen the clippers and oil them and
then make clipping the hedge look so easy that I always
thought I’d like to be able to do that.
Until I tried it. I managed to clip, clip for maybe a
foot or two until my arms and shoulders ached. And there
was usually about maybe another forty feet of hedge (in
length) to cut.
What was worse was the fact that when my father cut it
the hedge always looked immaculate. It was perfectly
even on top and on the sides but when I cut it, the
hedge looked like a big green crinkle-cut chip or as if
somebody had attacked it with a pair or pinkin shears.
I still have a pair of those lovely hand-held clip-clip
clippers, but I think it might be just for nostalgic
reasons, because whenever I have run out of things to
add to the bottom of my to-do list and finally brace
myself to go cut the hedge, I have electric shears to
help me.
In fact, not only do I have one pair of electric shears,
I even have two. Well ok I’m not sure if one of the sets
is really electric as such, but it is a rechargeable set
that doesn’t have any long lead to trail behind and has
an extendable head that can adjust to different angles.
It’s a pretty nifty piece of kit.
At this point I have to admit that I was suckered into
buying this piece of equipment by colourful pictures on
a big poster in a garden centre that seemed to make
cutting the hedge oh so easy.
The hedges in the picture were all immaculate and the
woman cutting the hedge in the photo looked as if she
could cut hedges for hours with no trouble at all.
In reality it was all a little different. Firstly I had
so much hedge to cut that the charge on the battery ran
out at least twice (although I must admit that I was
glad to the rest both times) but worse than that was the
fact that it wasn’t easy.
In fact it was downright difficult to get the hedge cut
along the sides and along the top and I soon discovered
after a few feet that my shoulders and arms ached. |
I also discovered another
of the reasons why I detested hedge cutting so much -
all the clippings had to be raked up and lifted.
But I managed to get the clippings all lifted and the
clippers put away before the rest of the family arrived
back in the car when I was certain they would appreciate
my efforts.
“I see you cut the hedge,” said one of the girls as she
brought a bag from the boot of her mother’s car. “But
not very straight though,’ the other added with barely a
glance towards me.
Did I mention I hate cutting the hedge. |
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A DROP OF
PORTER is
the weekly
column of
Inishowen
Independent
editor,
Liam Porter. |
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