Oh what a tangled web we weave

Or rather what a tangled web that Couch Grass roots grow into when you're attempting to dig the blighters out.

I've mentioned before about Couch Grass. It's the most common weed that I have here now that I've spent years eradicating bind weed and brambles. Yes there are the odd bramble or bind weed that rears its ugly head and I can pull but as I've managed to get through the plot I've managed to keep things reasonably under control. But Couch Grass is the pain that just keeps on coming.

It can send out rhizomes that go underneath paths, and any kind of mulch. Which is why, when I put down a load of newspaper and wood chips last year, it didn't work as I hoped. Now I am digging through the same area that I covered trying to dig out these roots. The newspaper is long gone. The woodchips have started to breakdown into decent soil, but it is still quite friable. The problem are these roots.

They criss-cross under and over each other. They form a mat underneath that takes huge amounts of work to get them out. They break easily. So thats what I'm doing. I'm grabbing handfuls at a time and pulling them out. I guess this winter is going to be weed eradication as far as I can because I really need to get on top of this before it gets so much worse.

The Council have sent their contractor it to empty the waste areas, and in doing so they also piled up the woodchips to such an extent that they are now pushing over the fence to the woodchip bay into my plot. No real haslle there over than it's a bit awkward to get past. But as you're walking on top of a load of Couch Grass... so what? At least once I get rid of the stuff it's extremely easy for me to replace all the paths without having to truck it about on my broken barrow. But of course, there is the issue of getting rid of the weeds in the first place.

I've done 3m of pathway in a couple of hours and the damn stuff is still there. It's hard going.

Meanwhile The Wife has been tending to her Strawberry Empire and started planting some of the runners from the strawberry beds, into pots rather than letting them plant themselves into pathways.

So now there are loads of little pots dotted about. She's left the runner intact for now as it does help with keeping the daughter plants alive whilst they settle into their new homes. I'm guessing that next year she might want another bed to let them take over. Or they may just end up filling up odd spots where some of the mothers are not looking so healthy. Or she may want some more planting troughs to put them in. I don't know as yet.

Either way, I'd better hurry up and clear these weeds out so that there is room to move around.

The 2021 Courgette Tally:

55