Cutting back my neighbour's forest

My neighbour's buddleia has grown since I'd trimmed it in the spring so I went in for another go yesterday evening. While doing so I spotted 6 ash tree saplings and one elderflower sapling so I sawed those down. One ash tree sapling was 2 inches (about 10 cm) in diameter near the bottom. There's probably enough ash of a decent thickness to be sawn up to make an hour's burning in the wood burning stove. Because Dorothy is not doing very much in the middle and the bottom of her garden there was nothing under the buddleia branch that stretches crosswise across her garden so I could saw that down. It now needs lopping and sawing into small peices. The gaffer tape on my loppers have stopped holding the loppers together, and the next time I am in a DIY store I plan to treat myself to a new pair.

Buddleia, spring vegetables and cold hands

I had a day off today, and though cold the weather was dry, so I was on a step ladder cutting back  a clematis, which comes over the fence from my neighbours' all over my shed rof.  It blocks the gutter I have round the roof which connects to a water butt.  I cleared as much as I could reach.

I then had another go at my other neighbour's buddleia.  The branches that go up vertically will have to be left but I hope to get all the rest down in one or two more sessions, and there will be so much  more light in both my and her gardens.

I sawed some of the thicker bits of the buddleia to store for wood.  Difficult to know what to do.  If it doesn't burn well I've wasted the time sawing it and the space saving it.  But if it does burn well I will regret not sawing more.

My hands got cold and then, with all the activity, warm again.

I was able to pick a small bunch of swiss chard and a big bunches of chives to have in a vegetable stew.

Light in urban gardens

I asked my neighbour if I could come into her garden and cut the branches of the buddleia that hang over my garden from their base.  As expected she agreed and said I was welcome to cut it all down.

Today I had an hour sawing and then lopping the side bits for easier stacking.  I didn't do more as, though I had the stamina to carry on, I didn't want to overdo it and hurt my back and shoulders.

Cutting this bush down will give me morning light in the middle bit of my garden - the vegetable patch.  It will also give Dorothy a lot of light in her garden too.

Gardening writers rarely seem to appreciate the problems of lack of light in small urban gardens -  I expect because most of them, and their clients if they design gardens, have lovely, big gardens.

Butterflies will miss it, but I only occasionally see them fluttering around it.