Hi,
What a story stevei; thanks for sharing it. I bet he didn't do an action replay. I confess I got caught out with my Howard; I'd rotavated uphill and wondered if it would still work OK rotavating downhill after all the wheels are geared to the engine so should control it's descent? Well yes but not when the new handlebar grips let go; fortunately my embarrassment was short lived; the rotavator tipped onto it's side and stopped. The controls are somewhat awkward too to use on the steep slope whilst trying to keep control; when I power drive it up the ramp into the garden hut I have to be very careful not to run it into the far wall; I've been thinking about rigging up handlebar controls such as those levers used on clutch and front brake on motorcycles but I can't swim which I need every time I want to go into the garden due to the heavy rain.
Many thanks wine~o; yes I often call our rear garden our mountain; I go up and down it now aged 76 like a mountain goat and have often dragged petrol rotavators and mowers to the top. Four years ago we had new neighbours move in next door; the wife told me our garden isn't as steep as her garden; this was until I invited her to the top; it quickly changed her mind when I briskly walked up leaving her half way down. It's been suggested a few times I should not have removed all the trees because there could be a landslip; once the wildflowers root they should prevent this. Please see the first picture in the last post I added; there's a garden hut next door; look how high it is above our garden hut and the incline of the supporting wall. I've felled and carried tons of heavy logs down the garden and all the way down to our driveway; it's hard heavy work but it's never bothered me; aged 15 I was working down a deep coal mine so am used to heavy work; how many guys aged 76 still climb big trees.
- Creating meadows_0004.JPG (270.76 KiB) Viewed 1520 times
Some of the trees.
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More trees.
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Oak tree.
- Creating meadows_0002.JPG (261.84 KiB) Viewed 1520 times
Laurel stump
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Logs.
- Creating meadows_0001.JPG (225.31 KiB) Viewed 1520 times
Top hedge.
During the last two years Ive removed 17 huge trees working entirely on my own. Heights between 50' & 70'. All logged and the logs carried all the way down to our driveway sometimes working in sleet and bitter cold. Last August I removed the huge oak tree which towered over our bungalow this was incredibly heavy taking two weeks because I had to double rope the branches over the bungalow one by one in order to control their descent whilst I cut them into sections I could lift.
We had a huge 60' long hedge to the top of the mountain; I cleared this entirely including stumps and roots; one of the stumps seen above; the hedge was mostly cherry laurel and about 30' high when I started to lower it then finally remove it; five very hard days work just to get one massive laurel stump ball out but it must have weighed at least a ton.
Other pictures show what it was like before tree clearing. In order to rotavate the middle of the garden I had to remove eight very large stumps together with all their many roots then use a garden spade to manually dig the area over.
Many walkers along the lane adjacent to our mountain top have stopped to compliment my work and to take mobile phone images of the panoramic view I opened up across the valley; also when the wildflower meadows are in full bloom; they look stunning.
I've rambled on enough but rotavating has only been one of the heavy jobs. It's been worth it though; the trees won't trouble me any longer due to storm damage and possibly this will be the first year of lighter maintenance on our mountain. All this work isn't hurting me; yes it tires me out some days working myself to a standstill but I'm fit because of it.
Kind regards, Col.
