Ground Elder Battle

My mum has to battle bindweed constantly, the stuff is rife through her garden and she was convinced the moment her back is turned the plant would shoot again. Our garden we have to battle ground elder, it is everywhere and I have had to declare war.

I was informed by Andrew Gardens Weeds and Words that you can make a wonderful pesto using ground elder and I did have an evening considering if I could set up some amazing home business. Selling it from a little stall at the local farmers' markets, maybe even the top restaurants in London would want my homestyle artisan pesto. Then I remembered that I have three boys and can barely find the time to keep us all fed let alone making homemade pesto and taking over the culinary world.

The smallest front border is so full of it I could barely put the fork into the soil to dig it over. I have started this border now as I want some pots to go along the edge as the soil is so terrible. We considered putting down a membrane but were told it really needed clearing as it would only keep coming back.

So I set to work, this is a job you can lose yourself in as its just digging and pulling up roots. The sound I came to hate was the snap when the root breaks. I know this means it will grow again, honestly its a very determined plant I must give it that.

These pictures are from just over half an digging and look at the huge amount I managed to pull from one tiny area.

I am going to have to buy something for my poor knees though they are taking a battering.

The plan moving forward is to really try and keep on top of this and get it clear as I can. The only way to get rid of it is to keep getting out those roots. I think it will be more autumn time when I can move the pots into place but that means I have plenty of time to think about bulbs and what I can grow as it gets very little sunlight.

Comments

Mint is trying to take over the garden

I am trying to tidy the garden up. We are a bit tight for money this month and I want to plant lots of bulbs. Instead I am tidying and keeping busy, let's be honest the garden is a weed haven and a total mess so I have a lot to do. Clearing this border however I have made a very important discovery. That mint is trying to take over the world, one border at a time. Two years ago I planted out a very sad and mainly dead supermarket mint plant. I did not think it was going to survive or the consequences of my naive action. It did survive and it did grow and grow. I then cleared the border down that year and the next it came back stronger. This year it was at its finest. Now admittedly I did just let it grow. The children loved the smell as did I. They were picking it, making mud pies with it, it was a source of fun. Then the flowers came out and the bees and pollinators were in heaven the whole border was alive, I had to keep it. I have now dug it u...

Did you have a good day?

I decided to write this post as a Mummy of a little boy who is on the Autism Spectrum and has very limited speech and understanding, I wanted to give a glimpse into our world. He had been for a school trip to a small local airport and this is the story of collection and journey home.... As I walked through the door I almost heard the sigh of relief from the teachers, "Mummy is here" was said in that slightly high pitched tone mixing happy and stress all at the same time. OB runs towards me shouting Mummy then collapsed on the floor just by my feet telling me "I want yo see animals and go to Legoland". OK I think to myself here we go, I bent down to his level and said in that slight high pitched fake happy tone that it was time to get into Mummy's car, but he was getting distressed the word Lego was being said repeatedly. I noted he did not have his Lego (Lego goes everywhere with him) I enquired about said Lego, luckily it was quickly found, this seemed to...

VBAC when a Uterus Ruptures

It took me some time to decide if I should write this post, but my overwhelming feeling is I need to share what happened to me. I hope that I can raise awareness of VBAC and the very rare chance of a uterus rupturing. I have had three children the first OEP was born via section at 42 weeks due to a missed breach, infact I never went into labour. ATM was successfully naturally delivered as they say by VBAC. Then we had ZAP...... I happily opted for VBAC the second time, I have two children and the last thing I needed was a section meaning I could not drive or lift for 6 weeks. I was told I was classed as high risk, in fact it was written on all my notes and would be carefully monitored at all times during labour. So two weeks before my due date I woke in the middle of the night feeling rough and was violently ill. I could not get back to sleep due to the most terrible pain in my right hand side and back. I thought the pain in my side was from being so violently ill that I had pu...

Mud Cakes and Wine

Search This Blog