Trophy Gardening

Fueled by cups of tea, the stumps were finally removed.

Last year I chopped down a few shrubs and a tree next to the house.  I only chopped off the top growth and this year they have re-grown with a vengeance. So it was time to take action. The first one I tackled was a holly tree which I would guess was self set by the birds as it was too close to the path, so close in fact that the trunk was touching the edge of the concrete and the leaves scratched you as you walked past. It took some getting out as well; the roots went straight down so I had a lot of digging to do even though the trunk was only about 30cm in diameter.

After another hour or two and plenty of cups of tea I managed to get the other shrubs out that were growing closely together beside the garage wall. Again, too close to be planted there on purpose. This time I held the stump into the air like a trophy or winning gold at the Olympics. I had beaten all the odds and was a true victor; only the dogs could see my joy.  

The compost bin was next to the stumps so after another cuppa I tipped the whole contents into the few holes I had dug to get the stumps out, and covered with the topsoil. Job done, all I need to do now is decide what to plant in there before the dogs dig it up to salvage the rotting vegetable peelings.

Constant Vigil

I’m keeping on to p of the weeds in the veggie patch. It’s a constant vigil though especially as this is the first year that the soil has been tended. Before hand everything in there was allowed to go to seed and spread. The worst offenders at the moment are small nettle seedlings, there are millions of them and if I didn’t get them out now they will just get bigger and take over.  In contrast to the chickweed and other less invasive annual weeds, these nettles won’t be killed off by a gentle raking when the soil is dry. I have to get in there and pull each one out by hand. I don’t mind really as it gives my OCD plenty to do.

The larger nettles were very good for making the plant food and my hopes of an experiment with the three buckets; one of nettles, one of seaweed and one of comfrey didn’t really work out.  My plan was to filter them into individual containers and water three different clumps of the same plants to see which one grew the best. When it came to bottling it up the smell was so vile I was just happy to pour the liquid into any container mixing them up. I just wanted to get the job done as soon as I could. I’ll never know which is doing the best job at feeding, and to tell you the truth I don’t really care. I am constantly making apologies for the smell in the tunnel if I get a visitor. I hope it’s worth the effort.

Customising

I’ve only had the tunnel a few weeks but it has been customised to fit our climate already. I have put up a washing line along the top bar covering the length of the tunnel.  On a sunny day it gets the clothes nice and dry but if there are clouds about they stay a bit damp.  If you read the last chapter you will know what the biggest issue is with the clothes, people can smell me coming 200 yards away and I tend to have a swarm of flies around me like the character ‘Pig Pen’ out of the Peanuts strip cartoon. At least my clothes are dry.

Temporary solution

I have a temporary solution to the oil tank screening issue. For now I have put some large pots of sweet peas growing up bamboo poles at one end of the tank so we can’t see the green plastic from the house window. I have also put a window box with three lavender plants in front of it.  This will do until I can think of a better solution.  I might have to go about altering how oil tanks are designed, that’s the real root of the problem.  How about shaping the plastic to look like a big ball topiary box plant, or something useful like a table and chairs or even an image of your favourite animal?  Better still, how about burying them in the ground?