Outdoor housework
By Fleur
@Fleura (34927)
United Kingdom
March 9, 2021 5:01am CST
I love our garden, but it could hardly be called perfect. I’m a plant addict, so I am constantly buying, propagating or germinating new plants and then squeezing them in everywhere.
On top of that we have quite a playground, with slide, swing, climbing frame and trampoline.
And then of course there is the veg patch, and the fruit trees and chickens.
By contrast our next-door neighbours have an absolutely immaculate garden. The lawn is a perfect carpet of smooth green, and around the edges are orderly shrubs clipped into neat rounded shapes.
To my mind it’s a bit boring, but each to their own.
I was a bit surprised at the weekend though, when I discovered the neighbour actually vacuuming their patio! Presumably using a broom was too risky as it might have swept some dust onto the lawn?
All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2021.
9 people like this
8 responses
@DaddyEvil (174208)
• United States
9 Mar 21
Do your neighbors use a lawn service? That's the only time I've ever seen a 'perfect' lawn... And did you laugh when you saw them vacuuming their patio? I would have laughed and taken a photo of them doing it just so I could entertain people on myLot with the picture. 
*sigh* Yes, I'm not always nice. 
*sigh* Yes, I'm not always nice. 1 person likes this
@Fleura (34927)
• United Kingdom
9 Mar 21
They do have a gardener to trim the shrubs and cut the grass, but the neighbour also tends to the lawn himself. I guess it's his pride and joy!
I would have liked to capture a photo but I would have had to crawl under the shrubs paparazzi-style with a long lens to get a good shot. I'm sure I would have been spotted.
1 person likes this
@Fleura (34927)
• United Kingdom
9 Mar 21
@DaddyEvil I'll be watching out for the next opportunity!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381760)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Mar 21
Some people really love their lawns and take great pride in a picture-perfect green expanse. How big is your block? A quarter acre used to be standard here years ago but it's nothing like that now. I doubt there is a 'standard' size.
1 person likes this
@Fleura (34927)
• United Kingdom
9 Mar 21
I don't think there is a standard size, but gardens in general are getting much smaller, they are less than half the size of gardens of the 1950s. We managed to buy one of the biggest in the village I think. The house is really bigger than we need but it came with the garden!!
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (84704)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
9 Mar 21
Well, if it's a picture-perfect lawn with picture-perfect shrubs, makes me wonder how real it actually is. Some people can't be bothered to maintain a lawn, so they install a fake one instead. Hell, our lawn has patches of brown in it from dry winters. It had holes in it when we first got it. It's far from perfect, but we love it all the same.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (84704)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
9 Mar 21
@Fleura You can see why I would question it, though. But, then you still need to tend to artifical stuff. Unless he's one of those OCD types.
1 person likes this
@Fleura (34927)
• United Kingdom
9 Mar 21
@kaylachan Oh yes, and fake grass (outdoor carpet) is much more realistic and getting more popular. And I can see why, especially in these modern homes with teeny gardens, it's just not worth trying to mow a tiny lawn which is only about four times the size of the mower itself! And then you have the issue of storing the mower somewhere!
1 person likes this
@Tampa_girl7 (54714)
• United States
9 Mar 21
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone vacuuming their patio. Your yard looks peaceful.
1 person likes this
@Dena91 (17029)
• United States
9 Mar 21
Some people are very obsessed with lawn care. I need to go out and start getting sticks up and trimming our hedges and trim some limbs. I like mowing, but I am not obsessed with it. And I certainly wouldn't take a vacuum outside to clean off the porch. 
1 person likes this
@allknowing (153544)
• India
9 Mar 21
I prefer a hotchpotch kind of a garden where there is so much to see.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (153544)
• India
9 Mar 21
@Fleura And so is mine. (lol) I call it the systematic wilderness.
1 person likes this
@lazydaizee (6732)
• United Kingdom
9 Mar 21
I suppose gardening is a bit like housework and they are always bringing out new labour saving devices for use in the garden.
I have never heard of anyone hoovering their patio before although my friend`s husband often tells her he is going to `hoover' the lawn when he really means that he is going to mow the lawn.
1 person likes this
