Exciting Discoveries

After being away, it was wonderful to be back on the plot. I was greeted by the usual jungle of weeds. Apparently, it has been really wet and that would explain the explosion of weeds all over the plot in such a short time. I opened up the shed and said hello to Maude and Mavis who greeted my arrival with enthusiasm. I threw in some dandelion leaves and some chard and left them to it.

I began with the two beds under the plum and apricot trees. These beds are somewhat shaded by the trees, both of which stubbornly refuse to bear any fruit. Each year they tease me with blossom only to throw it down before it can set. Slowly, I worked across the beds, repeatedly filling the weed bucket. After the weeds were removed, I realised that the beds would need digging over but that sounded like a job for another day.

I moved onto the bed by the Bog Garden which seems determined to turn into a lawn despite my best efforts. I dug down into the soil, trying to pull up as many roots as possible. In some places, there were so many roots that they had intertwined and could be pulled out easily. Here was another bed that needed digging over and I promised myself it would be done before the winter turns the plot into a quagmire.

Next, I moved along to the Bog Garden. It’s a job I have been putting off for a while. But I was on a roll, I emptied the weed bucket and began. Getting the grass out from between the reeds was tricky as the grass seemingly had managed to grow in the middle of each reed plant. As I battled through the weeds, muttering curses at its existence, I discovered a beautiful dark purple lily flower. The majority of the surface of the water in the little pond is covered in water lily leaves. But the grass had hidden the flower – it was in full bloom and absolutely stunning.

Carrying on, I worked my way back up the other side through the sunburst beds by the willow arch. With the largest weeds removed, I decided to leave the rest of the smaller ones in the hopes that they are late blooming flowers. Probably I am being wildly optimistic. No doubt, I will need to remove them all in the next couple of weeks. For now though, they can stay!

I took a break and sat in the shed, surveying the plot. With Weed Mountain fast approaching the height of Everest, I decided to put the weeds along the central path. The path has desperately needed some more bark or wood chippings to build it back up. As yet, we haven’t had the time to organise getting it but in the meantime, I thought the weeds would do. I had already used the willow cuttings on the path and the weeds on top made it a softer, less crunchy walk.

So with dinner fast approaching, I closed up the shed and ambled home. My plan for tomorrow is to clean out the chickens, ideally all three coops assuming the forecast rain doesn’t make an appearance!