The weedkiller isn’t only not working, it’s not even coming close. I know that our gravel patch isn’t strictly part of the portable garden, but it is part of the garden and I’d still like it to look nice. But the weedkiller isn’t working.
The poet did say he’d give it another go at the weekend, but he’s still recovering from surgery and I don’t think he should be doing too much. Besides, the hedges need trimming and the grass needs cutting as well. On Tuesday the green bin didn’t go out to be collected, because there was nothing in it. That means it’s been more than 2 weeks since the grass was cut and longer since we started on the hedges.
So on Wednesday morning, before I hung the washing out and after I did a dog poo patrol, I decided to spend just 15 minutes on my knees pulling the weeds by hand. I started down by the garage, alongside the shed as (a) it doesn’t get much sun, and (b) it’s nowhere near the bird table. I figured that if I started there, where there weren’t as many weeds, it would look better quicker.
I couldn’t kneel on the gravel so I got my seat/kneeler out of the shed and used that. (It’s a small seat one way up and a kneeler the other, it also has a little cupboard in the seat, but that’s empty.) I couldn’t find my gardening gloves and the ones I found were too thick for pulling weeds. You need to get your fingers right in sometimes, and the gloves were getting in the way.
Some of the weeds had travelled some distance beneath the gravel, so the little bucket I was using as a gauge to fill and stop for the day did in fact fill up quite quickly. When it was full, the whole patch between the shed and the hedge was clear, and even around the shed. I tipped the weeds into the compost bin and called it a day, rubbing my fingers where the stingers had got me.
I hate and detest gravel in a garden. It’s cheap and it’s lazy, only it causes more work in the long run, and it only looks nice when it’s brand-new. As I was pulling some of the weeds I noticed that there was grass sprouting up. I’m in two minds to just clear the gravel to one side and let the grass take over again. At least you can run the lawnmower over grass and it’ll take a lot of the weeds with it. And the dog poo patrol would be a lot easier.
I picked a few strawberries (yay!) and watered the pots.
The spuds are doing great and one of the previously dead tomato plants seems to be making a go of it.
So that’s all from us for this week. How’s your garden growing?
