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| Saturday, September 23, 2006 |
| In the Garden |
Today I did gardening. Well, when I say "gardening" I mean "inhibited and/or killed things in the yard". I sprayed all the grass in the backyard with glyphosphate, and pulled up a handful of lantana seedling (Fricking lantana! I dug the parent plant up over two years ago, and I'm still getting seedlings coming up). Then I sprayed all the weeds down the driveway, the grass that's trying to regain a foothold in the garden beds (carefully, though, so as not to kill off my grevilleas), and the ivy beside the house (in the vain hope that if I get poison on the fresh new growth it might at least slow the stuff down). Then I cut back the unidentified yellow bush near the fenceline in the front yard, and attempted to dig the stump up but it was more firmly rooted than I anticipated. So I left it there for another day. Then I hacked the rosemary back (I know you're not supposed to prune stuff while it's in full flower... but rosemary is as tough as old boots in Adelaide, so I have no fear about attacking it with the secateurs). The garden waste bin was full of yellow bush, however, so I piled up the rosemary cuttings (with a few stems of ivy included) - my favourite approach to dealing with piles of cuttings is to heap them up somewhere they're unlikely to take root, and leave them there until they get dry and crunchy. Then I stamp on them for a while, and then put any large bits leftover in the garden waste bin. The dried leaves and little twigs that break off whilst stamping I leave on the ground, in the pretence that I have actually mulched the garden. That way, more fits in the green waste bin. It's only collected every fortnight so you've gotta squeeze as much in as you can. Mind you, it would probably be easier if I just gave things a little trim on a regular basis rather than a once-yearly hack job, but I like my way better. It leaves more time for important things, like the board.
Oh, and I piled the lillies I pulled up last week into the green waste bin, too. They'd been left in a heap on the concrete to dry out a bit, and I wasn't about to pile them onto a garden bed as "mulch" because some of them had roots and nodules attached - those little bastards spread fast enough as it is. They don't need my help. Whoever planted this yard obviously chose hardy, unkillable plants - ivy, lantana, nandina, unidentified lillies.... good job, guys. I think of you regularly (well, once or twice a year) when I'm battling one of the evil fascist psychopathic maniacs of the plant world that you populated the garden with.
Then I made an internal list of Stuff that Has To Be Done:
1. remove the small tree near the tap (we suspect it being part of the reason we have to get a plumber in every twelve months to clear the pipes)
2. remove the small tree near where the pipes from the toilet exit the house (also part of the plumber employment plan) - someone's tried to do it before, but they didn't poison/remove the stump, and the tree has just re-sprouted.
3. remove the ivy growing down the side of the house.
4. remove the ivy growing beside the shed
5. remove the yellow bush
6. remove the concrete path
7. remove the brick planter box
8. get someone in to build us some new gates (actually, I add this to the list every time I have to go through the side gate - it's just about detached from the fence and a pain in the proverbial to open/close)
9. plant stuff. Stuff that's pretty hardy, but easier to kill than kikuyu grass or lantana. Just in case someone wants to take it out someday - and just in case a future owner does not want the house swallowed up by rampant plant growth.
There's a lot of removing on the list, I know. Removing things is my basic approach to garden maintenance - just pull out the stuff you don't want, plant some stuff you do want, and pull out whatever doesn't grow. When my mother visits I am also prompted to do things like mulch, fertilise, tip prune... that kind of stuff. In the meantime, it's the poison and slash method.
So now the green bin is full, there's a pile of rosemary cuttings that's almost larger than what remains of the bush, and hopefully some other stuff will start to die in about a week's time. My job is done. And I have blisters from my secateurs. |
posted by Ata @ 11:09 pm  |
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| 1 Comments: |
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"I think of you regularly (well, once or twice a year) when I'm battling one of the evil fascist psychopathic maniacs of the plant world that you populated the garden with."
*bursts out laughing* High-larious.
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"I think of you regularly (well, once or twice a year) when I'm battling one of the evil fascist psychopathic maniacs of the plant world that you populated the garden with."
*bursts out laughing* High-larious.