Sewers and Garden Therapy

It's been a stressful, dirty week. Dirty as relates to sewage--ewww, that's right, sewage. It all started on Thursday when the elegantly named 'Sewage Specialists' sent a little camera down the sewer pipe in my basement. When it wouldn't go all the way through they inserted a snake with a chopper on its end that would cut away the roots of the Dogwood tree growing atop the pipe's route to the street. They assured me that this was the problem-- but not to worry, they were positive that the chopper would clear the way. Didn't work. Camera still couldn't get through. More extreme measures were called for to dislodge those tree roots. They'd be back on Friday to dig a hole outside, closer to the tree--oh and by the way they warned me not to use the sewer system.

On Friday around noon, only 3 hours after they were scheduled to start work, a crew of three sturdy guys took turns cutting out the concrete walkway to my front door and digging a 4' deep pit down to the pipe.

3 sturdy Sewer Specialists

At this stage my frustration and anxiety had grown to an intolerable level. I needed a distraction. Then I remembered that the Yew needed a little pruning. I dragged out my ladders, loppers and pruners and started hacking.

Poor old Yew needed a little haircut. . .

Once the sewer pipe was unearthed the guys punched a hole in it and inserted the snake chopper to cut out the roots that they were certain were causing the impasse. Didn't work. Camera still wouldn't go through to the main connection.

Yup, that's my sewer pipe.

Maybe it's too big for this spot?

By this time the yew branches I had lopped off filled up two yard debris cans and a wheelbarrow.

In search of a sewer pipe

As the afternoon wore on things were getting serious. The crew grew to 6 guys who jack-hammered up the sidewalk at the end of my driveway and dug a 5' deep hole down to the pipe. I kept pruning, some might say 'madly', for by this time the Yew was looking rather bedraggled. I began thinking that the old Yew was really too big for that spot, and maybe I'd take out the whole tree.

Around 4:30 on Friday afternoon the gang of 6 discovered I have a PARTY SEWER. This means my neighbor Jane and I share a lateral connection to the city's main sewer which is not acceptable to city code. Sooo, because the pipe's Y connection sits under Jane's property I am the lucky homeowner to install a whole new lateral connection.

At this point, and luckily for the Yew, I was too exhausted to do any more pruning. The sewage hustlers got my system 'flowing', covered the 2 stinking pits with plywood, and took off for the weekend.

Yesterday a work session was scheduled at Brooklyn Community Garden. Although a bit stiff from extreme pruning (hey, that could be the next reality show!), I was still feeling stressful about my sewer situation and looked forward to massacring a bunch of weeds. At the community garden a friend told me that the day before he had gotten some bad news, and to alleviate his frustration he'd thrown himself into weed demolition and pathway construction. I rejoiced in knowing that it isn't just me who finds gardening to be a terrific stress management solution. The segue from stress to gardening was the link that I'd been searching for to write about this experience.

Those weeds really took a beating.

Haven't decided whether to remove the Yew yet, but the sewer work is scheduled for this next week.