I think I might come to hate gardeners

[pecunium]

At the very least I hate gas powered blowers, and other tools.

The neighbors' gardener has been working for the past 30 minutes. For that time, I've not been able to hear anything but the growling of his tools. The television, gone. Conversation, impossible. Even trying to use headphones isn't possible. The noise is too loud.

That's from more than fifty feet away, and with the doors and windows locked.

Yes, it's mid-day, but still.

Add the marching band at the high school practicing at 0730, and the various peals of the loudspeakers (which are a good 1/4 mile away and sound like Miss Othmar, but last longer), and there are occaisional ideas of applying a still life, a la Woodpecker.

{this all ignores that for the past two years they've knocked all the baby plums off the trees on the edge of our property}

Comments

[cjmr.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean! My neighbor spent all day Wednesday using his leaf blower to 'rake' his back yard. I could have raked it twice or maybe three times with a rake in the same amount time. And we could hear the thing on the other side of the house, even on the second story, with all the windows and doors closed. Two weeks ago his lawn service was here using a plug aerator (which at least was quiet) and they cut our underground phone/internet line.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Feh. Real gardeners use rakes and stout pushbrooms and manual edgers (and know how to sharpen them).

Our university grounds crew started using blowers a couple of years ago, but then some enterprising, green-oriented student did a a little observational study and discovered that it actually took less time to rake and sweep than to blow. Given that rakes require no dead dinosaurs or ear protection, the blowers got retired in short order.

[inflectionpoint.livejournal.com]

Dear gods. How aggravating. I use hand tools for everything, altho if I ever get permission to cut down That Tree, there might a brief bit of work with the chainsaw.

I've never understood people who use power tools when they aren't really needed. It's... gauche in a way I can't quite articulate.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Does your area have any kind of noise ordinance? Even if they don't, documenting the decibel level and filing a formal complaint might get some kind of action. Midday or not, if it's loud enough to override TV and headphones thru closed windows, that's too damn loud for a residential neighborhood.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Good gardeners, of course, don't use blowers, which only re-distribute leaves, trash, and dust, to the detriment of the garden in comparison with raking, sweeping, and proper removal of debris (mostly to the Compost Pile, which many good gardeners sometimes consider the major reason for having a garden).

[maiamuse.livejournal.com]

i find my peace in gardening....a little spade and a rake for the compost. hell, i still use a watering can. it is my escape and my serenity and, heavens knows, i need it. i don't even like to use gloves....i love the feel of my fingers in the earth (ok, i use gloves for manure!)
modernity sucks.