A mutual friend from church suggested that as L's 50th Birthday Present, we could do some work in her garden: clear some of the viney tangled spaces, trim down some of the hedges. etc. The kind of thing that you need multiple people to work on so it doesn't seem endless and impossible. I volunteered to do some reconnaisance and work out what could (and should) be done (as well as what probably should not).
I did the recon with the assistance of her son, talking about the garden and what their family did so far as maintenance (mowed the lawn, really, that was it). I put together some notes and a plan, we arranged for the first weekend in July to do the majority of the work, while they're away, and to finish up in the second weekend in July. Unfortunately, we got a bucketload of rain this weekend. So that turned out to be a no-go. But we did have a group of us turn up so they could walk around, look at things, and get an idea of the plans for what could happen.
Nobody except me really gardens. They just maintain their suburban spaces as most people do. Lawns, hedging, some shrubs, etc. So we turn up and I'm talking about a patch that has a raspberry bush in it and how we have to weed the grass but leave the raspberry canes. And then we had the problem of them not recognising raspberry canes. I told them to let me trim the raspberry canes down and then anyone can pull up the grass/weeds. Sometimes, after decades of reading, observing, learning, it's hard to remember that most people don't have the body of knowledge that I do. (And some people learn it, but don't manage to keep the knowledge.)
So, there we all were in rain gear, while I explained what probably needed doing. In the end, we agreed that we'd get rid of the viney things, leave the shrubby/tree things, and probably bring along our own green waste bins to fill, because theirs is going to end up filled in a matter of hours. I mean, if I had everyone there at the same time in the same place, then I could have marshalled people to do things - but that unfortunately wasn't an option due to the rain. So people are going to come by and do what they can during the week, with a more concerted effort next weekend.
Except next weekend I have my own minibee happening at my place. ARGH.
We do think we discovered a tree - possibly the lemon tree that L's son vaguely recalls from childhood, although he thought it was more in the middle of the garden. There is no tree in the middle of the garden and there never has been...
I also have ideas about shrubbery along a southern fence - salvias, thai basil, mexican marigolds, maybe some lemongrass - but it will take a couple of seasons to actually grow everything into place (at least 2 years, probably - as long as it took my picket fence garden to really take off). Still, it'll look pretty, attract bees, etc.
(Speaking of bees: varroa mite is in the country. This is DIRE and terrible for our crops and for pollination of our crops. I had a native beehive the summer before last, but it died and the friend who split her bees for me initially had a partner who was in the last stages of cancer for the last 18 months and so she's been in no state to deal with the beehive and to check out if it was something like hive beetle, or what. I haven't dared to open it up myself. Maybe I should ask someone else with native bees about it? IDK. At this point, I imagine getting hold of native bees is going to be like winning the lottery; everyone with native bees will be holding tight to them.)
Anyway, I'll have to go around early this week to trim down the things that need trimming which my non-gardening friends are unlikely to recognise.
Also: do some reading up about whether the canes need to be cut back or just trimmed to a reasonable length to fruit. I don't know what kind of raspberry it is (I need to work out with my own raspberries what kinds they are as it is, and I already trimmed them yesterday - oops), but the raspberry will need a trimming if only so we can get down to the ground and pull the weeds.
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