my second-least-favourite chore

Other than carrying buckets of rocks or sand, my least-favourite chore in the garden is trimming tall hedges.  We have a tall hedge along the driveway that just gets taller and taller.  I felt unsafe trying to trim the top on the ladder, so I made a practical decision: to trim it only as high as I felt comfortable standing on the ladder!  In this photo, that straight line is the height I cut it to, and those tall things behind the hedge are the back half.  That's how tall it used to be!  I'll have to get to the neighbour's side of the fence to do the other half, but the ground is higher on the other side so it should be much easier.

The only satisfying part is seeing the massive pile of branches I hacked down.  The big hole in the hedge isn't my fault, that's where the ficus trees used to be so the hedge didn't grow.  I hope it fills in.

The depressing part about that pile is that it won't fit in the council waste bin, so it'll sit there for weeks until I can fit it all in.  That, and the half on the neighbour's side I still have to do.  Yipee!  You know what, I think this is actually my least-least favourite garden chore.