Worst gardening chore?

17 years ago

For me, the worst gardening chore is spreading mulch, and I'm dreading the day when I have to do that this spring. I just realized a close second yesterday, however, when I cut back my ornamental grasses -- or should I say, when my ornamental grasses cut me. I was halfway through cutting back my grasses when I realized my left hand was all bloody. I had tiny little razor cuts all over that hand from grabbing the grass blades together while I cut them off. It's like having dozens of paper cuts.

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Comments (16)

brenda_near_eno
17 years ago
That sounds painful! I think hand-weeding is still the worst - my back isn't what it used to be.
maryt_gardener
17 years ago
Nursing annual seedlings! If I start them in the house they seem to get all leggy--unless I put a ton of lighting on. If I start them outside-- they take forever at first, then I'm constantly checking on them and afraid for them.
Then suddenly they all get wiped out by some crazy weather thing I wasn't expecting.

I like the zing that annuals give, but boy they are a pain unless you just go buy them. Which I often end up doing after I have gone crazy trying to nurse them. Perenials are just so much nicer, if only I hadn't been moving so much the past few years I'd have my share of them. Mary
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hotroses
17 years ago
I love mulching - it covers all past sins and kind of makes everything look like I really intended to put it where it is. I also like taking care of new annual seedlings because I always try something new and different and can hardly wait to see what comes up. I also like pruning - including grasses. What I don't like doing is cleaning up after myself after a pruning session. I leave piles of brush everywhere and it makes my DH and sons nuts. It is like my brain thinks if the pile is on the grass, it dosn't count (like grass dosn't really count) DH knows the quickest way to my heart is to follow me around on a Saturday afternoon with a wheelbarrow and pickup after me.
aisgecko
17 years ago
I don't mind mulching. I hate weeding. Pulling the occasional weed is fine, but my on-going wars with stilt grass and jap. honeysuckle are getting old! None of this is as bad as cleaning INSIDE though so give me a pruner over a broom any day. (Cleaning toilets has to be my all time least favorite chore... maybe I can assign that one to my son) -Ais.
tamelask
17 years ago
lol- hotroses, you just described my actions & my hub's reactions to a T!! i'm the same way- i don't know why the pile doesn't bug me in the lawn, but it's too much bother to work into a tub or something. i always intend to go back and gather up everything, but always work too long or late and don't get to it. have finally gotten reasonably smart about it and get the kiddos to gather my mess, which they'd rather do than the actual weeding or leaf gathering.

i think my most hated chore is spraying- whether it's ferts, oil spray or whatever, i don't like to do it and so i put it off until it doesn't get done and i have bug problems or loose my fruit or whatever. drives me nuts. hub says he'll do it if i mix up the stuff, but the truth is i don't like that any more than the spraying itself.

i don't like mulching at all. i love the way it looks when i'm done, and what it does for the soil though. i get bored with deadheading, but discovered last summer my son likes to do that, so problem solved. paradoxically, i find most things i put off because i'm dreading, i enjoy once i get into the action (like weeding, pruning, raking, etc). can't get around it, the problem is i'm a classic procrastinator! i like the planning but have trouble getting off my duff & doing sometimes. :) tam
dellare
17 years ago
I worked my butt off today, the last day of my "weekend". I did a little bit of everything and ended the day watering. I will say THAT is my least favorite garden chore. It is also my scariest garden chore since I ran our first well dry doing it though it was a hand dug shallow well and we needed a better one anyway. That said I spend every day after work starting about the end of May watering. Bought a sweet watering wand from gardeners.com that you can place where you want as long as you can hook up a hose, so it is not as hands on as standing there and watering with a hose but just the same, dragging the hose, etc. is one of my least favorite things to do. Adele
jqpublic
17 years ago
I hate fertilizing b/c I always forget. Also don't like digging large holes for trees and bushes...we have oak tree roots everywhere!
shari1332
17 years ago
I'd have to say grass control. Edging the beds and pulling out Bermuda grass that's invading. Despise the stuff. Someone on the Soils & Compost forum called it E-vile and I concur.
hbwright
17 years ago
Hum, mine would be the dreaded corner of the house/fence where I have everything piled together growing in one great mess including the tall grass that tends to grow there because I can't pull it out at the prime of the growing season and it really isn't noticable until winter when it is the only thing green.

Other then that I love weeding my flower beds. I do it daily every morning to start my day. It is relaxing and gives me a good reason to be outside enjoying nice days.
twisted_limbz
17 years ago
Oak tree clean up is my most hated chore... love how stately and majestic oaks are but hate how they drop their leaves ALL winter long and then having to pull leaves out of all the evergreen shrubs... and don't get me started on the acorns smothering the lawn!
lee_71
17 years ago
Digging cedar and poplar tree roots out of the raised bed gardens is the worst chore for me. Those things go everywhere
and suck up all nutrients... so it's a must do chore. But
it requires essentially digging up the entire raised bed every
year to get those roots out.

Both trees were first started when we moved in to the house, so
there's a little sentimental value to keeping them... however
the cedar may become a new part of the raised bed this year.

Lee
dottie_in_charlotte
17 years ago
Worst for me is digging holes, especially for shrubs in 5 gallon pots. I dig the soil and toss it into the wheelbarrow to break it up so it's easy to pack back into the hole. One year I thought I'd be efficient and dig the holes in fall so I'd be ready to plant in spring.
Don't do it. They fill with water, get all algae in them and collect weed seeds(and polliwogs).
greygardener
17 years ago
This is a great thread! Amazing how different we all are, LOL! I hate leaf clean up. Have lots of oaks too, and I'd give anything to get rid of all the deciduous trees on property! I hate pulling weeds as well. But if I'd stay on top of it, wouldn't be so bad.

Mulching and pruning might well be my favourite things. Instant gradification! For grass pruning, I wait for a chilly day, like yesterday, put on gloves, blue jeans, a heavy shirt and go after it. Those tiny cuts are worse than being covered with paper-cuts.

But like house-cleaning...it all has to be done, like it or not. My problem is I do IT ALL without a DH or DW! hehe!
nancyofnc
17 years ago
The chore I hate is spraying Neem or Garlic Oil or anti-black spot stuff (I don't do evil -cides). I hate pumping the quart hand sprayer like a thousand bidzillion times that kills my arm tendons, or pumping the two-gallon big sprayer like every 2 seconds that kills my shoulder joints. I hate getting that wetness over my jeans and shoes, and having to wear almost a Haz-Mat suit to keep it off my head, hands, arms and out of my eyes, etc. I'm asking for a battery operated pump sprayer for my birthday and a season of DH doing the spraying. Then maybe I'll get a 5 gallon one that I can tool around in my tractor bucket and use a long handled wand! I know, "dream on".

I don't have grass but a nice deck right under the most prolific 90' oak that FLINGS its acorns onto it 24-hours a day for a whole month, causing a racket like gunshots that the casings roll on after each one. I am afraid to sit out there lest I get beaned and don't dare walk out there in bare feet. I haven't looked but I am sure there are dents in the wood.

What I don't mind are the leaves since I only clean them up in Spring (no lawn - see!) and then they get chewed up for Summer mulch. As I go along I get to see the emerging plant newbies up close and personal. I also don't mind weeding since the only one who cares is me so they can grow on or not at my whim. I just tell people, who ask, that they are natives and I don't want to disturb their habitat.

Nancy the nancedar
zigzag
17 years ago
I'm not very qualified to post on this thread since I have a very small lot and bi-yearly 'garden elves' who do the heavy work - mulching, pruning, lugging away the excess for me (for a fee, of course, and worth every penny!). But, I still do a lot adding to and keeping the jungle under control on a daily basis.

My biggest gripe (besides my antique knees!) is that I seem to have become a biting bug magnet and for two out of the last three summers my legs have looked like a virtual war zone. I don't tolerate the heat well, so heavy fabric long pants won't work. End of last year I stocked up on repellant and as much as I hate to use that stuff, I have to discipline myself to do it or else this year.
dianne1957
17 years ago
Worst Chore...Digging up Wild Onions!...Dianne

Worst gardening chore?

Comments (16)

brenda_near_eno

maryt_gardener

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