Winter weeding

Garden updates , , , 2 Comments

I’m in that magical window where things are mild… and then you see what’s coming and wonder why on earth you are weeding in the sunshine and not doing more pressing deeds.

A big hard frost and snow is predicted next week.

But I can’t help myself. Winter weeding is so enjoyable and fun.

Unless you count the Beastie who insists on climbing the pine tree above where I work and just watching me.

It does not make for the most relaxing job of hauling out achillea umbellata when you feel like you are about to become prey.

Or she wants a lap when I really need to get on.

She photo-bombs every shot.

But a two session job on this large part of the garden and I’m done.

If I calculate, I would say that this is the easiest garden area I have created. I think I spend a total of about 15 hours here a year. Just a bit of ‘oh god, weedy bits’ at the beginning of the year. And then, I neglect it and leave the ground cover plants to fight it out.

Right now it’s achillea. Later in spring it will be the swathes of salvia. I’ll be appalled by some random self-seeders. And then just stop fussing.

I will come by to pick the wonderful achillea coarctata when they flower. And the satureja Montana for cooking.

And generally just enjoy mooching about. The bicolour iris might flower this year.

And I have the new garden extension to work on. It’s marvellous that I don’t need to go far to dump the bags of weeds. I just leave them in the Dry Garden extension and will smother them in mowings when I remember to trickle charge the lawn mower for a day and ‘do’ the lawns.

One good thing about weeding is finding just how many fantastic euphorbia rigida babies are all over the garden.

And lots and lots of small clumps of stipa gigantea.

If Cousin It doesn’t make it through the snow storm, I’ll transplant lots in spring and create a similarly large clump.

I did actually download lots of the historical pictures of this dry garden. I was going to save it for when it really is foul weather and I can’t go out and play. But who knows? Maybe there will be a massive power cut from snow on the electricity lines and I won’t be able to write later in the week.

So here goes.

A slideshow. 2007.

2010.

I dug over this entire area with a mattock and a fork.

(Absurdly proud of that.)

I fear I’m going to be that old bore in the horticulturists’ nursing home regaling anyone who is too slow to trundle away about the time I dug over a dirt and bone dry terrace during a drought with nothing but a mattock and a fork.

Kneeling as I was having a sciatica flare up, but wouldn’t give in as the plants had been ordered..

And I was in the grip of creativity.

Those lavenders were from cuttings.

Happy days.

I’ll stop now.

We aren’t in the nursing home yet.