Thorns in the thumb

Some things are inevitable. If one must weed near a bramble patch, then the chances of getting pronged are high. I have a thumb that has not one but two thorns. Pesky indeed.   But I’m making steady progress on the major weeding under the fruit bushes.   There are 19: jostaberries, red currants, white currants, black currants and blueberries.   I will have room to add two more jostaberries I think, but that’s getting ahead of myself.

The frustration is you can’t burst out the door first thing and fling yourself at the task: the ground is too frozen.   So I end up doing lots of beefy warm up things first thing and then only get around to the weeding after lunch.

Today was cutting chestnut sticks for the mulch.   I climbed onto the land behind the potting shed where there is a huge chestnut beast and cut away all the finger sized straight lengths that grow out of the base.   They are perfect as a mulch (once chipped) as they are green and keep things ticking over in the micro organism mix.

If I was on a roll I would have gone up into the forest to collect more.   But there was a meeting to be had about fireplaces over in the eco hamlet in the village, indoor work, writing and potting up more lilies.

Still not a bad day’s toil. I’m almost there with the soft fruit area. I love this time of year for weeding; you pull things out and nothing germinates in its place.   I have to get that mulch down before the real thaw and everything explodes into life.   Now where’s that medicinal whisky for the thorns?