Bramble action shot

There has been mutterings: those brambles don’t look that bad.

Hah! I have obviously been standing too far back from the pernicious weeds. Try this shot of the brambles that are clothing the fence.

Clothing? More like smothering and dancing on the grave if you ask me.

You can just see the post sticking out the far right to tell you that there is a fence under here somewhere.

So here’s the technique: a preliminary strim just to try and get close to the fence and avoid being whipped around the back of the neck by random waving tendrils.

Then tighten the gauntlets and pull at the closest visible post. Remove as best as possible.

Wire cutters to remove the fence from the post. Whip secateurs out of the back pocket to try and fight one’s way towards the next post.  Repeat.

There are fences galore up at the top potager. Most of them collapsed and lying prone after last year’s flood.

All of them bramble clothed. And the one at the front also has ivy.  Fun and games.

Actually I was contemplating removing the ivy until I realised that the ivy holds up the collapsing wall in front.

So I have to get rid of the brambles but somehow try to keep the ivy going at the same time.

But the ivy monster at the far end has come out.

It was actually strangling a chestnut tree under all the tendrils. That was a surprise; I thought it was just a fence post.

Up above the potager is the bramble field; slowly encroaching.

And you can only clear so far as there is a suprising extra fence up in the forest. Grrr. One fence too far to try and untangle. And it is sporting a fine crop of broom plants which I somehow need to remove.

But that is not a job for this month. Instead I can just stand back and admire the tidy scene.

The willow is going to be cut down this christmas for decorating another vase. It does stick out like a sore thumb right now. Usually it is entirely hidden by the bramble field.