Aaaaaaarrrrggghhhhh, why do I bother?

[peter]

Went to water tonight and some ruddy arse has strimmed the area outside our main gate, including the damm hedge the council planted in the spring.

I cannot understand why, it is only the two strips each side of the entrance, no where else within walking distance.
I had short-mowed the sight lines from the gate, just left nettles etc in a narrow belt on the short strip and a wedge to halfway then full depth on the long strip, so there were no safety problems.
Whoever this idiot is has buggerd our proto-hedge, going right up to the wire and it has removed all the anti-vandal plants, nettles & brambles, we so like.
Some interesting phone calls monday, Town Council (landlord), District Council (park owner/maintainer) and County Council (cycleway owner/maintainer), and guess what?
I bet none of them will own up.

[Johnboy]

Hi Peter,
I would lay very good odds that had you had asked for it to be done there would have been a whole string of reasons why they couldn't do it!!!
Councils, don't you just love 'em!!
Years ago I used to sell plants at Kington (Herefordshire) Market and the council sent their contractor in on market day to spray for weeds and the net result that the idiot wielding the spray not only sprayed me but also most of my plants. I complained to the council for loss of plants and as usual they said I would have to take a civil action against their contractor. I mean the market was on Tuesdays and to spray with the Market full of people is against just about all the rules there are but the Council simply would not entertain any complaints and what is more awarded the same company the contract for spraying the following year!!

[Carole B.]

Very often these contractors will have their lists of what's to be done and when from the tender sheets and they don't seem to have the wit to use their own discretion on anything.I've seen blokes on quad bikes with weedkiller sprayer in hand spraying the kerb edges at exactly the moment the children were coming out of the local primary school....if they had waited 10mins the road would have been empty.
I think the only way to protect your hedge etc is to put a wire fence round it with labels at intervals saying 'Do not strim'.

[Chantal]

Or dig a trench around it, lined with barbed wire. A ha-ha I believe it's called.

[oldherbaceous]

Don't know about the Ha Ha, i think your reminising about your war days.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous.
Theres no fool like an old fool.

[Johnboy]

Would that be WW1 or WW2 Herby!!

[Chantal]

How old do you guys think I am! This is one I thought you'd know all about OH. The definition for all you philistines is:

"ha-ha

A deep ditch surrounding the grounds of an 18th- or 19th- century English manor house, intended to keep animals out. It was built to be invisible from the house so as not to interrupt the view. A modern version, sometimes used by gardeners to keep deer out, is the cattle crossing grate."

Adding the barbed wire is just to make sure...

[John]

Hello Peter
I know you are rightly p'eed off by this but all is not lost. It should all grow back much thicker and stronger to eventually give you a better barirer than if it had been left. If you can give it all a good soaking (some hopes!!!) my guess is that it will recover very quickly at this time of year.

John

[Wellie]

I really felt for you Peter when I read what you'd written, but I do feel that John from Glos. (me too John !) is absolutely right...
When you trim (or 'strim', obviously, sorry Peter, salt in the wounds...) it's naturally going to make the hedge thicker, so maybe they've inadvertantly done you a favour?

Ha Ha. What a simply lovely term, isn't it?
We've got roaming sheep where we live, so ha-ha's and cattle-grids are a pretty widespread practice !

Peter, any chance of feeding the hedge now too? Get it off to a fantastic start?!

I wish you well with it.
Wellie

[John]

Wellie
Ow bist ol' butt?
You gettin' to keep them shep owt yer gardin OK?

John

[peter]

Glamis Castle in Scotland has a fine ha-ha.

However I don't think I would describe it as a ditch.

From the house the lawn ran flat and level and as you walked you became aware of a stone strip, which as you got closer you realised was the top of a wall flush with the lawn and dropping about eight or nine feet.
From the entrance the rough meadow started to slope down to the base of the wall a good fifty to 75 feet away from the wall, so the cattle could graze right up to the base of the wall.
Ingress and egress was effected via a bank which became for the last ten to twenty feet a stone bridge.