Weedy bins

A slug. I actually found a slug in the lettuce bed. Now for all of those who find such an event a daily occurrence (and it was true for the London garden) this was the very first slug I have found. Not bad for a year’s gardening. But it was big and it was juicy and it was launching into a large head of lettuce. In broad daylight. Curses.

Up early-ish this morning to add yet another tonne of weeds onto the compost bin. Both are almost full and I haven’t even finished weeding the onions yet.

We will have to find another place to put things. Perhaps way down behind the pool. But then that will mean a monstrously long traipse. And the wheelbarrow wheel has a puncture. Actually I think the entire wheel has died but haven’t been able to bring myself to inspect. That’s the problem with a big garden and so little time. You find yourself prioritising and ending up with neglect.

I have been relying on Nicolas’s barrow which he had parked here for three months. But yesterday he came to use it on another job and I am bereft. Of both the gardener and his barrow. But he will be back for more wall work this weekend. And I must find a solution to the wheelbarrow. I did buy a cheap one and am paying the price now.

Asparagus peas. I think I have weeded out the asparagus peas from the potager. That will teach me for not labelling properly. At least I think they were peas. I can’t be sure. It such a jungle that I can only tell they are carrots from the different foliaged tops. And everything needs thinning. And what are those strange roots that are appearing everywhere. I think they are a crop from last incumbent. But again I can’t be sure.

One day I am going to write a gardening book that shows plants in all seasons, and all stages of growth. That will make weeding easier. And also teach the novice (or pig ignorant as I am finding myself) just how bare your garden will be for how many months of the year.

But goodness only knows what these weeds actually are (The mind wanders with weeding. So mechanical and you do get carried away.) They don’t look madly edible so they are yanked up and added to the pile of compost. Adding roots to the compost? Another cardinal sin for sure.