Fine Gardening in Cabbagetown

Gardening in the...Parking Pad?

Perhaps there are some of my dozen or so readers (thank you!) who romanticize about being a paid gardener: working outside, surrounded by beautiful plants in other people's gardens and getting paid for this privilege. And I'd say this is more or less true, about three-quarters of the time (getting paid is always 100% of the time; otherwise, one is just a glorified hobbyist.)

But that other 25%... 

Toronto Parking Pad Cleanup Cabbagetown Before 

I'm making out things worse than they really are. This short post covers the less-attractive side of garden maintenance: I'll call it "parking pad weeding" (I just made this up but you can use it freely!)

I've cleaned up more than a few parking spots over the years. It's always an "add-on" task, when the client says: "Do you mind tidying up the parking area? There are just a few weeds..."

This small area in Cabbagetown is "only" 15 feet by 10 feet, I'm guessing, but as you can see, no car has been here for a few years. Opportunistic weeds, on the other hand, have taken full advantage of the bare soil.

Toronto Parking Pad Cleanup Cabbagetown After

Weeding by hand-digging instead of weed-whacker (line trimmer) is, of course, laborious and hard on the knees and back (hence, I was hired) and spraying with government-approved herbicides will take a while to show effect. To be honest, during these type of unglamourous and mundane jobs, I "zone out" and just focus on the square foot in front, dig out the weeds by their roots, move over, lather, rinse, repeat. It's my form of meditation: I think about what's for dinner, which clients I'll see the next day, the aching feeling in my lower back, etc.

Fortunately, there were no dog droppings (or worse) to deal with, just a litany of "Toronto's best weeds." I just count my blessing there wasn't any creeping bellflower to contend with.

Feel free to share this post with anyone thinking about becoming a "horticulturist". It's not just about pretty flowers, dahling!