Weeds. Should we live with them? Yesterday on Morning Minions blog in America she mentioned the bad weather she was having and how the frosts had cut down precious plants and how much weeding needing done.
Although our weather can be pretty bad we muddle through with our plants, though my heart always sinks this time of year when I see the buds of magnolia, brown after a night of frost.
So this morning I was just going to find a photo to put on my blog and chanced upon some videos I made. I am hopeless at this by the way, especially the speech part. Notice how words fly away from my thinking for a start!
But this one shows my 'lazy approach' to weeds, allowing them space, and as the spaces get filled up with a variety of things, the less appealing weeds disappear.
I did not 'fight' the garden with chemicals, if something appears in the lawn I would plant a stick by it to protect it. For instance bluebells would trace through the lawn. They were a reminder to me of how history falls down through time. For instance in the graveyard, there was a slight slope between wall and flat area, and here violets grew out of the way of the tidying lawn mower. This is how wild flowers survive.
Sadness is part of our make-up and leaving the garden made me very sad but I have sown seeds here, herbs this year with plenty of orange nasturtiums to brighten up the soul ;)
Cornflowers are always good here, and nasturtiums self-seed year after year.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter's house does not have a garden, so everything I grow must be in pots. So this year herbs will figure mostly. I had a free packet of Californian poppies, which I giggled over. How they would love a cold Yorkshire climate.
DeleteWhat a cheering up blog post Thelma - I do agree about many weeds but now I have to employ a gardener - who is also a friend - we do sometimes disagree about Valerian (which I love, which seeds freely and often in perfect places) and my front lawn if left to its own devises would not be a grass lawn but a Birds' Foot Trefoil lawn (my estate road would die of shock),
ReplyDelete"my estate road would die of shock" Tidiness is not always a virtue Pat ;) and Bird's Foot Trefoil is pretty. Of course some weeds are poisonous like corn cockle or ragwort for animals. I was listening to an interesting discussion about how those 'foreign weeds' Japanese knotweed and Himalayan Balsam are hunted out and destroyed.
DeleteI just saw a sweet rabbit outside my kitchen window in the small garden I have there. I said, "I hope you're eating the weeds!" as he munched away! :)
ReplyDeleteThink it was the anniversary of Beatrix Potter a some stage Ellen, Peter comes to mind. One thing about this clever woman, is that she could have either been a scientist or a famous author. But....... because they would not read a paper on mushrooms she wrote in an all male society, she turned to writing about whimsical animals.
DeleteThe video was fascinating - partly because I was hearing your voice for the very first time - its lack of a regional accent and its gentleness. Is the garden in Todmorden as big as the garden in Normanby?* I guess the climate conditions are somewhat different. *Before publishing I noticed you had already answered this question above.
ReplyDeleteI have made many small one minute videos over time but do not like the sound of my voice, so thank you for that. As for climate conditions, the dryer South is easier to grow plants but being at the bottom of a valley in Tod with its attendant rain and mist is something different Neil.
DeleteI enjoyed your video, the garden tour as well as opportunity to hear your voice. Purple violets grow everywhere here, rampant self seeders. Unless a clump is crowding some delicate desirable plant I leave them in place. I find it interesting, as well as frustrating, that some plants flourish for a season or two and then completely disappear. Others become garden thugs. Delicate appearing nigella is one of those--sowing itself in hundreds and evergreen through the winter.
ReplyDeleteLove-in-a-mist, or Nigella Damascena who could not welcome such a plant with such a pretty name Sharon. Given the fact that we take plants out of their home soil and grow them in a multitude of different soils I expect loss must be accounted for.
ReplyDeleteYou do have a wonderfully calm and melodic voice. My neighbor had a 'restrained' hand. Our front yards on this side of the river are above street level, a raised bank. She had a wonderfully wild place. She received notice. She tried to fight it because it looked just as she wanted it to. They began fining her each day until she gave up and cut it back. She's starting over and not quite sure what she'll do with it.
ReplyDeleteI do realise Debby that my 'restrained hand' has to be taken with a pinch of salt. I notice in America the front gardens set to neat lawn in many estates, and it does give a picture of calmness but....let the wildflowers in they are having a tough time. Well at least in this country.
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