Spring Clean Up

One of the biggest jobs outside is the spring clean up. So this week I began the task of raking up previous years leaves and grass cuttings. I started on Wednesday and the first picture shows how much I accomplished first time out . I began at the Maple on the side of the house, which the City is supposed to be removing for us and managed to get half way down the length of the house on the East side.

The following day I began at the same Maple but this time worked towards the avenue. These photos do not really give a true idea of how much leaves and grass is actually being raked up.

Friday I gave my body a rest and began again today, Saturday. I finished raking under the spruce, again this tree will be removed, and worked towards the Maple in the corner, which the City will prune for us. I cleaned from the sidewalk around the power pole and Maple creating another pile of leaves etc.


My efforts for today were not complete, I began raking the other direction across the front of the property. I cleaned under the Spruce and the other side of the Maple and worked towards the next Maple tree. By this time I was beginning to ache so decided to try another activity.


Still in the front yard. Having no success finding the ice chipper, Richard probably locked it in the shed and I don't have a key, I use the ice chipper in the Spring and Summer as an edging tool, I made do with the spade. We wanted to know how far our front sidewalk went and so I scraped out the overgrown lawn edges only to find out that it does not go very far from the step near the Maple trees. There is a chance there could be another step here and I need to dig down further to find the path but I don't think that is the case.
As I was already in the front with the spade I figured it would be a good idea to the lawn at the front sidewalk. This is my efforts for today, there is a good six to eight inches of grass grown onto the sidewalk. I worked back to the same level as my pile of raked leaves and called it a day. I'll suffer tomorrow for my efforts but seeing the yard beginning to look clean and a little cared for is well worth the pain of the next few days. It's weird but I have always done the raking from the moment I first lived in a house with a garden. Neither my first husband nor Richard have ever been predisposed to do any raking, without my efforts it would never get done. Come to think of it I believe I did a lot of the raking when I was a child too.