New Garden Tools Aren't That Exciting

I've already pontificated on how much I hate the bushes in front of my house, but since it isn't in my budget to replace them, the least I can do is make them look better. Their current state as of the other day was pretty rough.

Here is what they looked like all winter:

Here is what they looked like last week:

I guess they actually don't look that bad, but in person they looked very overgrown and in need of a trim (in some places they were nearly as tall as me!). Last year I used basic garden pruning shears to trim them down but it was a lot of work (I have shears similar to these). So this year I invested in something a little more heavy duty to speed up the process. I should have done more research before I went but these days I am just trying to get everything done so when I saw a Menards and I had 20 minutes to spare I just went in.

First of all, electric hedge trimmers are freaking expensive. I had a choice between a 6" blade for $54.99 or a 22" blade for the same price... ???? Such a confusing choice! 

via Menards

via Menards

Most people would probably go with the bigger blade since it was the same price, but that blade was just so big that I wasn't sure I could really maneuver it. The way I thought of it, the 6" blade could probably cut off my finger, but the 22" in blade could cut off my head so I went for the little blade because I am accident prone and I like my head. And man is the trimmer really little. I didn't take any pictures of myself using it because no one looks good doing yard work, but it's barely the length of my forearm.  But it worked. 

It definitely got the job done but it wasn't much faster than using the shears. Although it was significantly less hard. So I'm on the fence about this tool for $54.99. It was definitely too expensive, but I've already used it and returning stuff is a pain, plus it does work it just isn't very powerful. Even though the 6" blade is too small I'm glad I didn't get the 22" blade because that thing was scary, but seriously though why isn't there an in-between option? Like a reasonable 15-18" blade? Someone get on that. 

For now though, I was able to knock something off of my to-do list and make my house look a little less abandoned. Some day I'll replace those ugly buggers but for now I'll do my best with what I've got.