The trees are a beautiful feature of our garden and when we bought the house we were told that the trees were subject to a TPO. To the uninitiated I should explain that a TPO means Tree Preservation Order issued by the local council. The council feel that our trees enhance the environment and therefore they want to protect and safeguard them. Unfortunately though the council do not want to come and clear up the leaves from their protected trees – that is our job.
So in early October our trees look like this:-
That’s not all of them just the ones I could fit in.
Then by mid October the garden begins to look like this (2006 picture):-
And then we all have to get down to the hard work of collecting them up. We have several goes at clearing the leaves and each time a couple of days later the garden looks the same. Last year in total, over a period of about four weeks, we collected 40+ black bin bags of compacted leaves. After the first year (2006) I went out and bought an electric leaf vacuum to suck up the leaves but we also rely on manual methods as modelled here by Troy Junior.
These giant plastic scoopers are very effective and highly recommended. They cost about £6 from Robert Dyas - and are a cheap way of keeping a child amused for hours. If you do buy them we can sell you some leaves for your child to play with!
17 comments:
Does any jumping onto piles of leaves happen? If not, why not? :)I am sick with envy over your garden btw...
Troy I thought I'd bimble on over to check you out! Your comment on my post made me seriously laugh, even the cat left the room! It seems me and Bob have been doing a bit more bimbling than we thought! Your Garden looks great, but my word trees are hard work. I think I may pay Robert Dyas a visit when we get back and get some serious pooper scoopers. We will be near neighbours, we are just off the M11 for now! Have a great evening and once again thanks for your great comment. Debs x
Word verification Yesyesyes
DJ, nice to see you here - and of course Troy Junior loves getting the leaves into a big pile then jumping into them. Mrs Troy and myself however restrain ourselves. When we moved in, the garden was untidy and overgrown. Over the last two years we've sorted it out with decking, plants and borders and I might do a "before and after" blog on the garden one of these days.
Hi Debs, thanks for calling by - and so now you know the multiple meanings of the word "bimble". You must have thought "well I'll be blowed" when you looked it up in the Urban Dictionary. We live in a village close to Ipswich - that's some way from the M11. The county of Suffolk itself is unusual in having no motorways (he said putting on his anorak).
It looks so pretty all the colour of the leaves on the ground. But I don't envy you that job! Luckily most the trees in my garden are evergreens. (Apart fromt the one at the front, but the wind blows the leaves away!)
Troy, Your post on leaves seems to be creating comments on jumping and blowing (leaves, not giggle pins- now ther's another Debism for you).
We did start looking at Suffolk for house hunting. I know the area well, I used to travel it in my previous line of work! It's a nice part of the country. I have just seen a dream house in Somerset, so who knows where we will end up. Debs x
Word verification Phnarghphnargh
When we were in the UK we visited a rather lovely Scottish Castle (Culzean Castle) and took loads of photo's of the autumnal countryside....when we showed the pics to one of our Thai friends she was absolutely astonished that the tree's leaves changed colour.
Your garden is stunning (and I'm very impressed that you and Mrs Troy manage to avoid jumping in the pile's of leaves....there is no way I would be able to!!)
C x
Trixie - yes the colours can be stunning but there is a lot to be said for evergreens. I reckon about 25% of our leaves fall outside our garden.
Debs - there are some real bargains here in Suffolk at the moment. One of our neighbours is desparate to sell a beautiful four bed, three bathroom detached house close to open countryside. But without knowing your budget it may be half the price, or twice the price, of what you are looking for.
Carol/Chris - we ought to be jumping in the leaves but being in our early 50's (me) and early 40's (Mrs T) I think we must be becoming "Old Farts".
Seem like a good idea! We have an incredible amount of leaves this year, sure there's more than last. I'm sick of sweeping them up. We tend to just plough through 'em. They cause much amusement for the dogs however.
CJ xx
I haven't got a garden (let alone trees) but living opposite a park I have the self-same problem. You would be amazed how many leaves can collect in a yard!
ah mr troy are you grieving over goldengrove unleaving?
CJ - you've made me remember back when I had a dog (a border collie). She used to go berserk when I kicked up the leaves.
Dotterill - those leaves get everywhere. I'm amazed we aren't all 6 foot deep in them by now.
Mei del - first welcome to my blog (I think it's your first visit?). The leaves on the ground are a forewarning of cold dark days ahead.
I think the leaves angle has been covered. (I'm late arriving as usual!) Love your boy's hands...is this Suffolk's answer to Edward Scissorhands?
Hadriana - at the risk of repeating myself, "Potius sero quam numquam!"
Troy Junior doesn't use those hands to cut hair, just to comb it. As a film "Troy Junior Plastic Hands" doesn't sound as interesting does it?
Troy - nothing to do with this post, but I left a reply for you on my blog concerning the article you directed me towards on autism. I have since deleted it because I was a bit pee'd off when I'd first read the article and perhaps was a little harsh in what I said! However, just wanted to say, thanks for pointing me towards it. Casdok did email me to tell me about it too.
Best, CJ xx
Cut the bloody things down, dear boy. Properly seasoned they'd make first-class roofing timbers!
Cut 'em down and put plastic ones in, I say. Or tin. Or dried? You can have dried flowers so maybe trees too? But absolutely not aluminium. Very bad for the environment.
We Have Trees Too. Say No More.
Bloody Things.
Must get some of those big hand things. Will put velcro on them and play catch with huge tennis balls.
Can Bass and L.W.M. - welcome to you both.
If I cut down the trees I would face a HUGE fine and probably get locked up. And at the risk of being pedantic - surely huge balls can't be tennis balls? Would be amusing though to see Nadal and Murray play with large velcro-lined plastic hands.
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