0 comment Saturday, May 10, 2014 | admin
Can I just take a moment and power-tool geek? Let me just count the ways I LOVE this new strimmer.
The old one was a corded basic thing which, technically was okay. It was very basic and at the time that was fine; I just needed it to cut. But as arthritis got worse, I found that bending slightly to do the trimming was painful...having to wind the cord out then wind it back was just another step to add to an already fatigued body and the cord spool became utterly impossible for me to adjust after a while due to hand strength. My garden has been turning into a bit of a jungle as a result of not being able to get the strimming done, so I decided to look for a new strimmer.
This little beauty is brilliant - it telescopes to any height and the head adjusts to upright or to lie a bit flatter if you want to get under trees and shrubs. It's cordless - runs on a pretty powerful battery - and it doesn't have nylon cord at all - just a plastic disk which changes by literally just popping one out and then popping the other and pulling slightly. Ridiculously easy! It's a powerful little bit of kit and I love it, but it does have a few drawbacks - one, there's no grass guard on the front so while its nice to see what you're doing, it doesn't protect your eyes and grass and bits fly everywhere, so eye protection mandatory! (I do this anyway...so should you *eyes everyone*). Secondly the vibration; this wasn't as noticeable on my last strimmer and is on this one now - which the grip is going on this baby, I did notice after using it that my hands were useless after an hour; my hands shook uncontrollably and I had no strength in them, not even to lift a cup of tea. I've still got my wrist braces on which help but it's pretty clear to me once I do the strimming, that's it for a while...can't do anything else, really. Feels like I was using the jackhammer for an hour (and I know how those feel).
Still, I love the job it's done and I'm so glad to have the kit here! For anyone similarly struggling, Bosch Accutrim 23, and with my blessing.
Also giving a shout out to Wolf Garten yet again - the saplings are going mad all over the garden and I haven't been well enough to deal with them. They're creeping over from next door and have also managed to get trapped between my garden fence and next door's, but were much too thick for me to attack with hand held secateurs. So, I've got some proper telescoping loppers from Wolf Garten and will be attacking the encroaching saplings over the next few days, as well as the sumac which is attempting to expand its territory. This is however -not- a job for today when my hands are still feeling a bit weird.
I have also invested in a leaf rake so I can deal with our autumn leaves from the trees next door. I actually want to start a leafmould pile but in order to do that I really need to be able to gather the things up - and also of course child needs the obligatory experience of rolling in a bed of leaves, which isn't quite possible when they're all scattered about. It seems strange to think about fall already but it seems the weather has decided to give summer a miss. And I cannot love autumn, really - I know many people do but for me Autumn is just a harbinger for winter with all its cold and sentence for being stuck indoors as it's too treacherous for me to be able to walk anywhere under my own power. I spent too many years in wintry climes to ever love it much, and already I'm trying to plot and plan how to keep occupied, how to keep child from going mad as he has to share my winter sentence with me. This winter I may actually have enough to keep us both occupied for some time to come, so let's hope the hypothesis is true!
It's overcast and cool today, but I have still managed to get out there and pull some cherry tomatoes off my rather stunted plants. The peppers are still doing their thing but I'll have some ready soon, and maybe I'll be able to make some salsa. I've been pulling rosehips to make into syrup which has been lovely, and giant strawberries are never a bad thing either! Mint for days out there which I harvest and make into tea as and when, and I also add to honey for sauces. I've got loads of potatoes still to plant, but it's now a matter of trying to figure out where they're all going! We still have only scratched the surface of the spuds I have harvested earlier - I need to remember to be more free-and-easy with the tatties in our meals.
We continue on. The garden has been productive this year and the herb garden expansion is most welcome as well. I did neglect the garden a fair bit but it's still going strong and I'm very pleased about this. I'm turning my attention to what I should propagate on - the lavender could be divided I think, and there's a peony I'd like to move as well to a more prominent place. Lots of plans to expand things a bit without resorting to buying more plants for a while, so we'll see how I manage on that one.
The old one was a corded basic thing which, technically was okay. It was very basic and at the time that was fine; I just needed it to cut. But as arthritis got worse, I found that bending slightly to do the trimming was painful...having to wind the cord out then wind it back was just another step to add to an already fatigued body and the cord spool became utterly impossible for me to adjust after a while due to hand strength. My garden has been turning into a bit of a jungle as a result of not being able to get the strimming done, so I decided to look for a new strimmer.
This little beauty is brilliant - it telescopes to any height and the head adjusts to upright or to lie a bit flatter if you want to get under trees and shrubs. It's cordless - runs on a pretty powerful battery - and it doesn't have nylon cord at all - just a plastic disk which changes by literally just popping one out and then popping the other and pulling slightly. Ridiculously easy! It's a powerful little bit of kit and I love it, but it does have a few drawbacks - one, there's no grass guard on the front so while its nice to see what you're doing, it doesn't protect your eyes and grass and bits fly everywhere, so eye protection mandatory! (I do this anyway...so should you *eyes everyone*). Secondly the vibration; this wasn't as noticeable on my last strimmer and is on this one now - which the grip is going on this baby, I did notice after using it that my hands were useless after an hour; my hands shook uncontrollably and I had no strength in them, not even to lift a cup of tea. I've still got my wrist braces on which help but it's pretty clear to me once I do the strimming, that's it for a while...can't do anything else, really. Feels like I was using the jackhammer for an hour (and I know how those feel).
Still, I love the job it's done and I'm so glad to have the kit here! For anyone similarly struggling, Bosch Accutrim 23, and with my blessing.
Also giving a shout out to Wolf Garten yet again - the saplings are going mad all over the garden and I haven't been well enough to deal with them. They're creeping over from next door and have also managed to get trapped between my garden fence and next door's, but were much too thick for me to attack with hand held secateurs. So, I've got some proper telescoping loppers from Wolf Garten and will be attacking the encroaching saplings over the next few days, as well as the sumac which is attempting to expand its territory. This is however -not- a job for today when my hands are still feeling a bit weird.
I have also invested in a leaf rake so I can deal with our autumn leaves from the trees next door. I actually want to start a leafmould pile but in order to do that I really need to be able to gather the things up - and also of course child needs the obligatory experience of rolling in a bed of leaves, which isn't quite possible when they're all scattered about. It seems strange to think about fall already but it seems the weather has decided to give summer a miss. And I cannot love autumn, really - I know many people do but for me Autumn is just a harbinger for winter with all its cold and sentence for being stuck indoors as it's too treacherous for me to be able to walk anywhere under my own power. I spent too many years in wintry climes to ever love it much, and already I'm trying to plot and plan how to keep occupied, how to keep child from going mad as he has to share my winter sentence with me. This winter I may actually have enough to keep us both occupied for some time to come, so let's hope the hypothesis is true!
It's overcast and cool today, but I have still managed to get out there and pull some cherry tomatoes off my rather stunted plants. The peppers are still doing their thing but I'll have some ready soon, and maybe I'll be able to make some salsa. I've been pulling rosehips to make into syrup which has been lovely, and giant strawberries are never a bad thing either! Mint for days out there which I harvest and make into tea as and when, and I also add to honey for sauces. I've got loads of potatoes still to plant, but it's now a matter of trying to figure out where they're all going! We still have only scratched the surface of the spuds I have harvested earlier - I need to remember to be more free-and-easy with the tatties in our meals.
We continue on. The garden has been productive this year and the herb garden expansion is most welcome as well. I did neglect the garden a fair bit but it's still going strong and I'm very pleased about this. I'm turning my attention to what I should propagate on - the lavender could be divided I think, and there's a peony I'd like to move as well to a more prominent place. Lots of plans to expand things a bit without resorting to buying more plants for a while, so we'll see how I manage on that one.