Honestly. I was so dispondant I just sat on the bonnet of my car & did nothing - I'm bloody ashamed of myself!
My asparagus bed is virtually invisible, the soft fruit has disappeared and my spuds will require fecking Agent Orange to uncover!
There are, however, a few glimmers of hope: one organic & one of human nature.
Firstly, while I was trying to figure out where the hell my spuds might be I found these:
aren't they beautiful! The larger one is about the size of my head - coooooool!
Even in this wilderness something will still grow!
Secondly. I realised I've got to get tough! Reclaim a small part of the plot & bloody cover the rest, uncovering it bit-by-bit. So I emailed a couple of carpet places & one got straight back to me saying as soon as he does another house and clears out the old carpets he'll call me back (so long as they're not foam backed) and I can help myself... Isn't that nice?
I know some people would say I'm saving him the trouble & expense of getting rid of them himself, but I see it more that he's gone out of his way to help me (complete stranger) & we'll both benefit.
Excellent!
10 comments:
Why not foam-backed? The really dangerous one for paths etc is a synthetic carpet with a hessian backing, because the hessian rots away and leaves you with millions of tiny fibres... forever!
Waaaaaaaah!
But these aren't to be there forever, just to suppress the weeds until I can cultivate that bit - how long does the hessian backing take to break down?
Oh dear! it's neverending all this weeding and maintenance. Did you find any hidden treasure in your patch?
No treasure but I have found a lost tribe. Does that count?
mine's just as bad just - I felt like crying when I saw how bad my plot had gone in just under a fortnight, I have made a start but I think some sections are going to require carpeting - time to find a solar powered vauum cleaner !
Just be absolutely, totally sure you have something else underneath the carpet, otherwise weeds grow in it and through it and superglue it to the soil with their roots, leaving you with an even bigger mess than you started with. I found this out the hard way!
Put down a layer of cardboard or plastic underneath the carpet and you'll be fine - in fact plastic keeps water out too, thereby killing more weeds.
Thanks for the concern, Alice. As it happens I've managed to clear a LOAD of ground rather quickly using my marvelous swoe thingy, so it looks like I'll not need carpets at all... Phew!
(I really enjoyed your Climate Camp blogs BTW)
What's a swoe?
It's kinda like a long hoe but with a bit missing; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wikinson-Sword-Swoe-Stainless-Steel/dp/B000297U3Y
Works the same a a hoe but you can also use the corner to dig in around stuff & for the really heavy duty weeds (waist high & above - many many of these) you can sort of hook it around the back of its stem and give a good old yark & slice right through the bugger at ground level.
Once an area's clear its relatively easy to get rid of the roots using a garden fork.
The only fly in the ointment is that I've got "office hands" nay, "ladies hands" & so I still get nasty blisters no matter what.
Ho hum.
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