Spring into action

This photo was taken last year of yours truly by Rachel the Gardener as we pruned the overgrown foliage on in this case the damaged branch of the tree. It was good fun to share the task which I would never have got round to doing otherwise. Having someone to help me decide in what order to do everything also helps.

Over the winter we continued to make some progress in the garden as you can see from the relocation of the summer house. Now Spring has arrived, it has brought with it a ground elder problem.

I managed to get rid of a swathe of it on what will be the vegetable area but it took a whole weekend and few weeks ago and it has already started to return. I've also tried Round-up in some areas but I think I may need to think about planting something quickly so that the ground elder might be competed out.

I did leave a bit of ground elder under a carpet for over a year but as you can see the sneaky stuff still grew, even without sunlight.

A kind gift of some raspberry canes meant that further clearing was required. The brick surround is temporary (I need to put support posts in too) but it just means that I have a defined area to maintain. The canes are already beginning to sprout.

During the weeding, I did come across a lovely suprise of some rhubarb under the apple tree. Now I just have to persuade the family to try it.

It is all worth it as I have made friends with a robin. It has become increasingly courageous, eating the worms that I have been digging with the ground elder. It lands closer and closer to me demanding that I continue to dig. As the night draws in, it sings its song, well it may be saying this is his territory but I like to think of it as a thank you.