Steep banking

Ah the joy of trying to weed a steep bank. You have to try and tweak gravity for as long as you can. And when in doubt, grab hold of a plant as you start to slide down.

I have made great inroads on this bank above the swimming pool. It was a creative mess (still is) of dying wildflowers and some sturdy eragrostis grasses.   Those were planted around this time last year, never really watered and left to fend for themselves all year.   Watering this bank is a bit like watering sand. It goes nowhere very, very fast.

The plan is to plant the entire bank with the drought tolerant critters and hope they will cover the bank with green.   Or at least hold back the erosion and let me get on with other things in a few years time.

I must have carried at least six full bags over to the compost heap behind the duck pond.   And now it looks almost a clean slate ready for planting.

But when to plant? I would usually do it just before a few days of rain are predicted.   But that’s not on the forecast. In fact this brief spell of cloud and occasional spits of rain is just about it.   For a week.

So I might wait until November, or just get a rush of blood to the head this week and go ahead.

But go ahead I did with more weeding.   The steeper bank behind the lawn and the fantastic miscanthus grasses is as close to a jungle you can get in this part of France.   Brambles? Tick, nettles, yup, native clematis that doesn’t even flower but trips you up when traversing the bank, oh yes.   Plus normal weeds. Dead grasses, rocks, rotting apples from the flavourless tree above.   And hollyhocks.   I tell you if you left your gloves in there you would never find them again.

By the end of play I could say that I’m halfway there. I need to strim it gingerly on Monday.   But at least you can see the bank now. A bit.