Jane and the Firethorn
Sep. 8th, 2012 09:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzWith the house all cleared for the weekend of course there was this one wee thing that needed my attention. I've spent afternoons in the garden in the past few weeks trying to rip up all the weeds, and even here was just the one thing that needed ripping up.
What I thought was just a "Gemeentekruid" was actually a thorny thing that was growing wild. It made tall branches and fanned them out everywhere. Last year when we moved in there was a huge pile of cut branches and I'm guessing this shrub was the cause of it. Although I'm not entirely sure whether it actually was the same plant Laiv and I cleared the old branches from last year, it's a good guess to say it was.
Previous gardeners here seemed to hold the opinion that if you just cut whatever you want to get rid of down to the stem, the rest will die eventually. Although there are several examples in my garden where this worked, this was clearly a case of it not working ever, at all. So the cute and tiny Gemeentekruid grew out to be a scary thorny mass. As I cut back the long branches earier this month I found out about the thorns and told NoKey it might have to go.
This shrub was right next to the cupboard with Scary Runny Spider and her Big Black Son and as I was cutting off branches to get to the stem, Big Black Son made a run for it. I squealed (only a very little) and let him go. After all, big leggy spiders eat all sorts of other bugs and ecosystems need big leggy spiders too. I dare say these boys can outrun me. Brrr.
Once all the branches were gone, I started digging around the stem. It was clear that this shrub was a spider nursery, but luckily most of them were small enough for me to trick my brain into thinking they were just ants with big butts.
Pulling on the stem dislodged it somewhat, but some of the roots went to deep. I cut some roots off and tried again. Quite the work out! I couldn't rip the stem out completely, so I cut some final roots and pulled it loose (still quite a feat, strong Jane is strong!). I even managed to rip out several big roots as well (but not the one going almost straight down) and quickly replaced the herbs that had been temporarily uprooted so I could get to the Firethorn. I planted a chives (biological chives, -35% at AH) and watered the garden to set the soil.
I sure hope this is the last chapter of Jane and the Firethorn, hoping those roots will just rot and dissolve in the soil. I know it doesn't work for hedera, or vinca or even pokeweed, but it might just work for this.
There are several stems in my garden that could be treated with a similar uprooting technique, but one is growing next to the tiles near the back door and the other is next to the shed. I doubt I'm that ambitious.
Meanwhile, I have so many tomatoes they are rotting on the plant in stead of getting red (NoKey did a culling), the onions are nearly big enough to eat, the garlic is being overgrown by the pumpkin, which in turn is growing wild but only has one 20 cm pumpkin to show for it. The courgette is still producing flowers, but no courgettes to date, and the radishes are coming up again where the previous batch dropped their seeds. My garden is quite lovely.
What I thought was just a "Gemeentekruid" was actually a thorny thing that was growing wild. It made tall branches and fanned them out everywhere. Last year when we moved in there was a huge pile of cut branches and I'm guessing this shrub was the cause of it. Although I'm not entirely sure whether it actually was the same plant Laiv and I cleared the old branches from last year, it's a good guess to say it was.
Previous gardeners here seemed to hold the opinion that if you just cut whatever you want to get rid of down to the stem, the rest will die eventually. Although there are several examples in my garden where this worked, this was clearly a case of it not working ever, at all. So the cute and tiny Gemeentekruid grew out to be a scary thorny mass. As I cut back the long branches earier this month I found out about the thorns and told NoKey it might have to go.
This shrub was right next to the cupboard with Scary Runny Spider and her Big Black Son and as I was cutting off branches to get to the stem, Big Black Son made a run for it. I squealed (only a very little) and let him go. After all, big leggy spiders eat all sorts of other bugs and ecosystems need big leggy spiders too. I dare say these boys can outrun me. Brrr.
Once all the branches were gone, I started digging around the stem. It was clear that this shrub was a spider nursery, but luckily most of them were small enough for me to trick my brain into thinking they were just ants with big butts.
Pulling on the stem dislodged it somewhat, but some of the roots went to deep. I cut some roots off and tried again. Quite the work out! I couldn't rip the stem out completely, so I cut some final roots and pulled it loose (still quite a feat, strong Jane is strong!). I even managed to rip out several big roots as well (but not the one going almost straight down) and quickly replaced the herbs that had been temporarily uprooted so I could get to the Firethorn. I planted a chives (biological chives, -35% at AH) and watered the garden to set the soil.
I sure hope this is the last chapter of Jane and the Firethorn, hoping those roots will just rot and dissolve in the soil. I know it doesn't work for hedera, or vinca or even pokeweed, but it might just work for this.
There are several stems in my garden that could be treated with a similar uprooting technique, but one is growing next to the tiles near the back door and the other is next to the shed. I doubt I'm that ambitious.
Meanwhile, I have so many tomatoes they are rotting on the plant in stead of getting red (NoKey did a culling), the onions are nearly big enough to eat, the garlic is being overgrown by the pumpkin, which in turn is growing wild but only has one 20 cm pumpkin to show for it. The courgette is still producing flowers, but no courgettes to date, and the radishes are coming up again where the previous batch dropped their seeds. My garden is quite lovely.
