Cleanup: 30 minutes or less

Today was nice and sunny, so even though I was short on time I took advantage of the weather and cleaned up another small area. Just a couple of ornamental grasses to chop and a little raking. The perfect size job for lunchtime.

I kneeled down to take this photo, so the grass looks a lot bigger than it really is. It's about 5' tall, and is "switch grass", Panicum virgatum 'Heavy Metal' if you're interested. A really nice grass. Grab the loppers and start chomping into it...

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That was easy! Took maybe 5 minutes.

This next one is a little harder because it's not as upright:

It's a Pennisetum alopecuroides (or "Fountain Grass"), and to make it easier to chop down I used a rope and cinched it up tight:

Easy access, chomp away with the loppers, and done. Again, maybe 5 minutes. Now a bit of raking, pull a couple of dead annuals (most likely Salvia coccinea), some sweeping, and I'm done!

You can really see the bamboo now, which is great, because it's one of my favorites (Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis') and will start shooting within the next month or so. I will need to dig up and move that switch grass I just cut down though, and that's going to be a tough one.

How much time did it take? Probably 30 minutes at most. I dawdled a bit because it was nice outside. =)
Total time spent on clean-up so far this year: 1:30 (1 hour 30 minutes)