I am referring here to the real thing, not just my humble opinion. I really am sorry but I have to unburden myself….
Now one of the problems of working in other people’s gardens is having to deal with whatever other people’s pets have deposited there! Now I am not squeamish: I have always had cats myself. People do try to ‘de-poo’ & most of the time I just kick/flick these deposits out of the way, wearing appropriate protective clothing of course, & carry on with whatever I am doing. Part of gardening life.
Recently however I was working in a garden of a very good neighbour which I have been doing for a number of years. They have always had 2 cats (usual problems) but have recently acquired a Jack Russell. The last visit was OK but this time I had to give up after a couple of hours as I felt quite nauseous. Things were not helped by the fact it had been raining heavily. I won’t go on.
Needless to say I have not yet plucked up the courage to tell friend/neighbour that I gave up & why: he will be so mortified (& so he should be you may think) but as a good catholic he seems to carry about a huge burden of guilt about so many things in life that I don’t like to add to it. No related pictures thankfully: I will just add a couple of something much more pleasant taken during a recent socktastic visit to Kew gardens.
I'm having a slight change in career for a bit. I'll be doing a bit of gardening for the next few months, so any poo-flicking tips would be much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteShould this post really have been covered under "What a Pile of Poo"? Or is this the start in a whole series of poo-related postings?
The worst is fox poo. For some strange reason they love doing their business on my cactus plants.
One of our neighbours (we have not, as yet, discovered which) has a cat which likes to poo in the middle of one of my heathers, right by the front door. I wouldn't mind if it did it in the soil in the borders, but disentangling poo from heather is neither easy nor fun. Perhaps it's a garden design critic and thinks I should replace the heather with something trendier? - I was thinking maybe it was right and I should go for a really spikey plant, but reading Rob's comment I'm no longer so sure ...
ReplyDeleteIt's bad enough when one's own animals crap all over the garden, but other people's cats are turning my collection of precious little bulbs – in a bed outside our backdoor – into a miniaturised but and stinking version of the Somme.
ReplyDeleteFox excrement, I agree, is the absolute worst but hedgehogs manage to smear theirs, all across the lawn. Lovely!
Rob, I am more than willing to train you in my kick 'n' flick technique. Foxes are a real pain aren't they: deposits are one thing but they also keep me awake at night with that horrible noise! Did you know fox crap has a pointed end?
ReplyDeleteJuliet, yes, some cats do indeed not seem to know that they are 'very clean creatures that bury their poo'.
PM Nige, I know from previous message board experience that other people's cat crap is enough to turn even the most calm & sane individual into a manic mad murdering terrorist. What does hedgehog poo look like I wonder. I used to have a web site saved which helped you identify all sorts of animal deposits!
Hedgehog poo looks like a small squeeze of toothpaste ... well, brown toothpaste (sorry). While they do leave it all over the place, it's neither particularly smelly nor particularly messy, so it's quite easy to dispose of it. And it's worth having to do the hedgehog-poo-hunt every time you mow the lawn in order to have hedgehogs in the garden!
ReplyDeleteit is my least favorite part of my job - one customers dog seems to c**p for England - and always on the bit of the garden that I
ReplyDeletea) want to work in, or
b) Have just planted
(sigh)
K
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ReplyDeleteI came over here Via mutterings in the Shrubbery. Love your sense of humor. Fun blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rosey Pollen (love the name). I hope I can continue on the same high humour level!!!
ReplyDelete