When we moved to our first rented place in Swindon, we gained a garden! Something we’d not had for years. So it was novel and fun…especially watching the wildlife.
But there were downsides too….weeds!!! In that garden my enemy was Himalayan Balsam. A hollow, spineless plant. Not hugely ugly but lacking character. Shallow roots and hollow stems that snapped with a chilling crack. I loathed it and relished pulling it from the ground.
Now we’re clearing our vegetable patch in the new house. It’s bank holiday weekend and we’re behind with planting so we had a long day of digging today. And I have two new least favourite plants.
One is Creeping Buttercup.
“Buttercups”, you say, “how quaint!”.
NO…how HORRID. A low, pervasive, ground-creeping plant with deep roots that’s taken over most of our vegetable patch. It’s the bain of my gardening life. It’s one redeeming feature is that the roots spread down and not out, so it’s easy to pull them up without having to dispose of great clods of earth at the same time.
The other is the dandelion. We now have a lawn, but it’s in a bit of a state, and with our energies going into the veg patch, it might not see some attention for a while. And the dandelions are taking over.
From a distance they look quite nice. The view from the kitchen window is almost meadow like with a thin carpet of yellow flowers blooming. But closer inspection shows them for what they are…nasty, evil, deep-rooted, zombies of flowers with jagged leaves and spiny petals.
I’m gonna get rid of them. I don’t know how but I will.
Pictures of the job at hand will follow soon!