A slow burner – Part 3: the garden

The Slope
The most difficult bit is "the slope". There are in fact several different types of slopes, all differently steep, with or without separation bits (i.e. paths or walls or whatever). Cutting the grass is almost impossible. There are some very basic areas that we can cut with the lawnmower, but then it gets rather difficult. Even with the lawnmower, because everything is on a slope, the lawnmower gets REALLY heavy with the grass in the basket. Or you rake it after, but you can imagine that this is not easier either having to rake and then collect everything, carrying it back up the slope.
Another major problem is caused by the "flower separation" along the walking path. My aunt basically decided to use the (what I assume were roof tiles) stone slates and separate the path from the flowers that grow alongside the walls and rocks. But as a result, we either can't cut the grass there with the lawnmower or risk the blades hitting the slates. Damaging the slates and of course the blades of the lawnmower. When I was a kid, I remember my uncle cutting the grass with a scythe. I tell you now, I won't do that. With my clumsiness, there's a visit to the hospital guaranteed.
About four to five weeks ago, I used one of those very dangerous bush cutters, with proper blades (not with those silly strings that break every two minutes). First I looked like a grass bomb exploded right in front of me, then I had stones and other little bits flying dangerously close past me, even hit me (I checked, nothing happend, but it bloody hurt!). And again, the roof slates are a bloody nightmare.

Things that are in the way
I think we have two canalisation access points there, more or less accessible. My grandfather had bee hives, so that means there is a specifically built wall somewhere in the garden that perfectly fits several bee hives. Whilst I like the idea of having bees, it's unfortunately also a bit in the way. We found two 'ruins' of - what I think - were tomato greenhouses. One definitely was one, I remember it from when I was a kid. The other one, not sure, but it looks similar. So it means we need to try to get those beams or anchors out of the gound.

Wild fauna
I mentioned in a post last year, that we have a bit of a wild cats problem. This has now partially been solved. As horrible as it might sound, but I think some of the cats may not have survived the winter. Partly because it was quite cold and some cats were very young (as my aunt used to say: they were born too late in the year) - I know, it sounds horrible. I assume as well, that other animals like badgers and foxes made their life rather difficult. We also originally just dumped our compost items in the garde, a dedicated slope, so to speak. But the local council offered a wooden compost for just 30€ and we got that, installed that in the garden and therefore took a food source away (until last week one cat persisted, digging holes to get in, I piled up more rocks around it, etc.). One cat we adopted and some others cat either moved on within the villages or have been adopted as well, as I see them wondering around (clearly well fed). Our neighbour's dog keeps pooping in our garden, so technically not quite wildlife as such, still a nuisance. But more importantly I kept complaining about just how much poop there is in the garden from that dog when my dad explained that some might not be from the dog. Especially after I sent some photos and the poops have clearly been dropped in a hole, what dogs usually don't do. Suggestion is therefore that there are badgers around.

Wild (or not wild) flora
There are some beautiful trees and bushes in the garden. One is a peach tree (almost rotten), we have a lilac (got frozen last year, has a hard time recovering), a blue fir tree (dead and no one wants to help removing it), and then there are - according to my sister-in-law japanese peach trees (beautiful red flowers in April!) but every end tip of a branch has a 1-2cm long needle on it. Then there are these long, I'd call them tentacles, of branches reaching out with thorns on them that even my protective gloves struggled with. The latter being the plant most invasive in our garden. It also means some parts of the garden (slope or not) have become inaccessible and whilst I have cut some off, it was mearly a drop of water in a desert that evaporated before it hit the sand.
My biggest issue is the stinging nettle. It's infested about a third of our garden and it's impossible to get rid of.

Damaged fences
A neighbouring plot is being used by a farmer. My aunt explained that some of his cattle broke through our fence not long ago. She asked him to repair the fence. Well, when I had a look a few weeks ago, the repair was basically to just wrap one single string of barbed wire around a couple of poles (which are also broken, though probably not entirely the cattles fault, they looked rotten). Anyway, fence not repaired, a massive gap in the fence for any wildlife to easily pass through, badger or dog, or even if a cow sneezes, the rusty barbed wire will probably just desintegrate

Some things that do not make sense
First of all I thought it did not make sense to find a glass bowl down the slope in the final stretch of the compost, until my aunt said that she used the bowl to feed the cat with things that she didn't want to eat anymore. I can live with that (even though at the same time she complains about the wild cats everywhere), but at the same time, there is not a single day I can go in the garden without picking up pieces of glass, pottery, rusty nails, shutter hinges, slates, and much more. At some point my aunt explained to me that "back then they didn't know better, if a glass or a mug broke, they just buried it in the garden". That has been a rather frustrating experience. For every barefootler... don't even bother in our garden. I mean some stuff, to be fair, I found whilst digging quite heavily on our parking lot (i.e. the hinges), but others, like the glass bits, you just see when walking through the garden. I sometimes worry that I can't find my keys (which many times I am holding in my hands), but then in the garden I see a piece of glass half a mile away that's smaller than a finger nail. My uncle apparently put rugs in the garden. I tried pulling them out, but I can't. He nailed them into the ground!!! I have no idea why. I can only assume that either it was because there was another green house or my aunt often throws plastic sheets or rugs in the garden to prevent weed growth. But seriously, this is ridiculous. It's several HUGE rugs, thick and green and half moldy nailed into the ground with nails the size of my hand.