Category: tree lopping

I’m really looking forward to gardening…is something you’ll never hear me say! Tending to green things isn’t really in my list of talents, or my genes. I’ll sit at the window and watch how Vince next door is able to grow things seemingly just by talking to them in a tender tone, and I appreciate that, I really do. The way our properties are joined up sort of makes it look like our front gardens are one, so I’m more than happy to take all of that credit. And then people can’t see my back garden, so that works out just fine. I can feel my neighbour Vince judging me. He’s elderly and spends all of his time at home; I don’t have that kind of free time every day!

It’s getting a bit dire out there in the front garden. My sister says I need to get in touch with an actual tree trimming service, Melbourne has many fine arborists. Every time I try to cut the grass it ends up as a deadly game of avoid running over the massive branches littering the ground. Running over large tree branches will ruin both your day, your inherited lawn mower and possibly your eyesight as the blades fling wood chips into your face’. As party games go, it’s definitely not for the faint of heart. Maybe for my 25th.

As nice as this place is (compared to my previous home), the garden is a bit of a mess. It’s not even that big, but it wasn’t left in a good state and I’ve been tentative about going out there to clean it up. It just seems like you’d need some heavy equipment, which I don’t have. It’s not like I’m going to rip up the offending tree stumps with my bare hands like that one Scottish strongman I saw on the news. I don’t have that level of zen, and I’m too precious about my nails. So I guess I’m calling some of the lovely tree removal contractors in Armadale. It’s their speciality so I’m confident they’ll do a fine job. One day I’ll learn to do things by myself, I swear.

I’ve got a situation that really grinds my stump. You see, my backyard has been ruined. I was planning on moving back into my investment property after thirty years of renting it out, and now I can’t, because a couple of overgrown trees have ruined everything. Because I need to allow time to get the trees removed, Ashwood will not be my home for awhile longer. I had been so excited to move in, but have always relied on the renters to pay off my loan until now. I thought, enough. It’s my turn to move into that stunning house. I had great plans for all the gatherings I could have in that backyard, but now I have to cancel all of my mental plans.

You have to be so careful with renters. If they are not letting their pets do their business all over the carpet or washing the Italian floor tiles with bleach, they are letting trees wreak havoc on the backyard. The formerly perfectly landscaped yard has been completely ruined by tree roots. The tenants did not tell me anything was wrong. They just let the trees grow wild. I would not be surprised if the root system had infiltrated the whole street. Eventually they asked if they could get the trees chopped down. I gladly acquiesced to this request, but now the yard is left with huge and unsightly tree stumps that they did not tell me about. I have no idea how the trees grew that big. When I planted them thirty years ago they were weedy little things. Now stump grinding is my only choice to remove them without ripping up the entire yard. It is cheaper as well, which is a nice bonus but I would pay any amount to have my yard back.

I have tried to organise for a company to come and take care of the tree stump grinding. Melbourne city council will have to be contacted of course, I hope they don’t make a fuss. It would be so much easier if I could be there to get everything organised, but there is no way I am living in a house with that monstrosity of a backyard until it is fixed.