Another thread discussing raised beds interested me greatly. This year, although not really a keen gardener, I'm following the Homestead thread with heightened interest.
OK, I know dandelions are a valuable resource but it is possible to have too much of good thing. If anyone wants dandelions for wine, salads or root coffee, they are very welcome to as much as they like, but only on a pick-your-own basis. Our vegetable plot is bordered by a water meadow used for hay and occasional sheep grazing. It was flooded this year for longer than anyone in the village can remember but has recovered quickly with lush grass and also with more dandelions than I have seen in the ten years we have lived here. I've spent the last two days trying to root out the pests just from the paths of my vegetable plot although the raised beds help to limit the spread to the vegetable plots. The neighbours and I fight a seasonal war against the invasion of our plots from this yellow peril.
Lest I be accused of speciesism, I hasten to admit that many other weeds give me grief too. The main reason for this is that I plant vegetables then clear off to France for the summer only to return in the autumn to a rich crop of thistles, chickweed ground elder and dandelions relieved only by bolted salad plants with a few stunted beans and beetroots if the rain has watered them enough. Why do weeds thrive whatever the weather while food plants have to be petted and cossetted? This year, with lockdown, I expect to spend much of the growing season tending the plants I want to thrive and eliminating the weeds.
My next door neighbour and I were discussing all this this morning. He has given up vegetable growing having left his father's plot to revert to woodland and concentrates on giving his lawn a quick mow then sitting on his patio for the rest of the day sunbathing with a cold drink while watching me weeding.
" I'm afraid this year I can't offer you the usual invitation to pick any ripe vegetables while we are away in France," I told him.
"Never mind," he replied, a bit ungraciously I thought, " I've never managed to get any because I've never been able to get through the weeds!"
It's a pity the local is not open or I could have refused to buy him a pint.
We do all agree round here, over the hedge at a distance of more than two metres, that we are fortunate in being able to work in our gardens and grow our own food during the present crisis. I know that many are not so fortunate. I imagine with horror the situation of those confined to a gardenless flat in an inner-city high-rise. I know from posts I have read on the Forum that some members are in this position. I sincerely sympathise and hope you can hold on to you sanity by following the up-beat posts and photographs published here. It will come to an end. Stay healthy!
OK, I know dandelions are a valuable resource but it is possible to have too much of good thing. If anyone wants dandelions for wine, salads or root coffee, they are very welcome to as much as they like, but only on a pick-your-own basis. Our vegetable plot is bordered by a water meadow used for hay and occasional sheep grazing. It was flooded this year for longer than anyone in the village can remember but has recovered quickly with lush grass and also with more dandelions than I have seen in the ten years we have lived here. I've spent the last two days trying to root out the pests just from the paths of my vegetable plot although the raised beds help to limit the spread to the vegetable plots. The neighbours and I fight a seasonal war against the invasion of our plots from this yellow peril.
Lest I be accused of speciesism, I hasten to admit that many other weeds give me grief too. The main reason for this is that I plant vegetables then clear off to France for the summer only to return in the autumn to a rich crop of thistles, chickweed ground elder and dandelions relieved only by bolted salad plants with a few stunted beans and beetroots if the rain has watered them enough. Why do weeds thrive whatever the weather while food plants have to be petted and cossetted? This year, with lockdown, I expect to spend much of the growing season tending the plants I want to thrive and eliminating the weeds.
My next door neighbour and I were discussing all this this morning. He has given up vegetable growing having left his father's plot to revert to woodland and concentrates on giving his lawn a quick mow then sitting on his patio for the rest of the day sunbathing with a cold drink while watching me weeding.
" I'm afraid this year I can't offer you the usual invitation to pick any ripe vegetables while we are away in France," I told him.
"Never mind," he replied, a bit ungraciously I thought, " I've never managed to get any because I've never been able to get through the weeds!"
It's a pity the local is not open or I could have refused to buy him a pint.
We do all agree round here, over the hedge at a distance of more than two metres, that we are fortunate in being able to work in our gardens and grow our own food during the present crisis. I know that many are not so fortunate. I imagine with horror the situation of those confined to a gardenless flat in an inner-city high-rise. I know from posts I have read on the Forum that some members are in this position. I sincerely sympathise and hope you can hold on to you sanity by following the up-beat posts and photographs published here. It will come to an end. Stay healthy!
