Cleaning My Ugly Garden's 'cage'
July 30, 2009
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Liz McDonnell
SPECIAL TO YOURHOME.CA
I woke up the other day to Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters singing in my head, Don't Fence Me In. I took it as a sign.
I have, up to this point, only ever-so-briefly-addressed the issue of My Ugly Garden's fence. Though it houses M.U.G., I never considered it a true part of the garden, and sloughed it off as something that required little attention.
I wrote about painting it, thinking that a quick splash of colour here and there would renew (okay, mask) the fence, and I would be done with it. But a quick jaunt out into M.U.G. this week has made me rethink the situation. Oh, and I should also give a shout out to readers who convinced me paint was not a good choice for fencing.
This is not going to be a small task. My fence is dirty. I know, I didn't need to put that in print because the pictures have already proven it, but I wrote it anyway. It's really dirty. The amount of rain that has appeared in the Southern Ontario region as of late has stirred up trouble not only in the streets, where some people have been calf-deep in water, but it has also stirred up M.U.G.'s earthy goodness, and that earthy goodness has landed on my fence.
I have opted for what I believe will be the most efficient, effective way to clean M.U.G.'s cage: the pressure washer.
My research has been brief on this one. Searching "How to clean a fence" brought up many links, and most of them came to the same conclusion: pressure washer.
And it sounds easy enough: protect your plants by tying them back from the fence, use the right size of pressure washer, use the right pressure washer tip, go slowly and don't damage the wood. Voila, a clean, renewed fence. No sweat!
So, why do I get the feeling I could end up mid-air riding a pressure washer like an amusement-park ride? I will let you know how it goes.
Liz McDonnell is a freelance researcher. She can be reached at liz.mcd1974@gmail.com.
Read more:
- Welcome to My Ugly Garden
- What to do with My Ugly Garden?
- Starting from the ground up
- My Ugly Garden has a visitor
- My Ugly Garden, meet Woolly Thyme
- My Ugly Garden suffers a loss
- My Ugly Garden parties
- A plan for My Ugly Garden
- Shopping for My Ugly Garden
- Making My Ugly Garden pooch-friendly
- Food for My Ugly Garden
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