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

It must be Autumn

It's getting colder and there is certainly more rain in the air. So it must be autumn. And just to prove it, the mushrooms are sprouting.

I use woodchips for all my pathways for this very reason. Woodchips acts as giant sponges for when it rains. They absorb the excess and hold it, gradually releasing it to make it available for the plants in the beds. The beds also do not compact as much, so any weeds that do take hold (and there are a few in the picture above) are easy to pull out, even those with deep tap roots like dock, thistles or dandelions.

Finally they breakdown over timeAnd this is where the biggest benefit comes it. They act as a home and food source for mycelium of various kinds that breakdown the chips and make it available as a nutrient source for the plants. The offshoot of this is that when it starts getting colder the mycelium start sending out their fruiting bodies and hence we get a load of mushrooms.

They're not edible. Well they maybe, I don't know enough about mushrooms to make that decision and there are some very, very poisonous mushrooms out there. So i just let them get on and do their thing of making food for plants.

On the subject of making food, our Aubergines are still in the greenhouse, and they still seem to be in a state of flowering. They have been for the past month. I don't think they're ever going to set fruit now. It's way too late for them.

So there they sit. Is it a waste of time to water them. Probably. But it's not like anything else is happening.

The chillies however are starting to turn a deep purplish colour. They're supposed to be red, but I suspect that this is slow because of how late they are in the season. But at least I may well get some chillies this year. But probably not many of them.

After the recent rains, I decided to pick the two big George's that we have growing on the courgettes.

I don't want to see them rotting in the mud, and it may encourage the plant to put out a final few courgettes before the end of the season.

The 2021 Courgette Tally:

52

Trimming the bush

It's the end of the season for flowers and veggies. But sadly there is no end of season for weeds. The very back of the plot is somewhat overgrown and needs a little care and attention. OK, it could probably do with a small scale tactical nuke, but not having a viable delivery method and minimum safe distance, I'll have to settle for secateurs, a garden fork and a broken wheelbarrow.

The Buddleja has now seen better days. And around the base are stinging nettles, some small brambles and bindweed.

It's not so difficult actually trimming everything, just awkward. Although I have found out that cheap gloves don't protect properly against stinging nettles. But at least the fork helps me keep a lot of it at arms length.

I trimmed the buddleja of anything that was overhanging the path, taking special care of any short stems that were at eye height, as those pose the biggest danger to the unwary. Fortunately these plants are pretty sturdy and will quite happily accept a short back and sides and still bounce back. Maybe with a fewer flowers next year, but still enough to keep the bees happy.

Mind you there are still a few flowers around that are currently keeping the bees happy.

Elsewhere? Well the chillies are just starting to set fruits. Not sure if they'll actually ripen, but we can try. And the Aubergines? Nah, they haven't started setting fruit at all. Guess they're a loss this year.

The 2021 Courgette Tally:

46

A poor harvest

Well today is a pretty poor harvest. We pulled the remaining Edamame beans, dug out a third of the potato bed and got 6 courgettes. We also grabbed a dew apples off the tree - those will have to be carefully cut up before being eaten.

Oh, and the very last cucumber.

Seriously though, we seem to be having a very poor time of it at present. Far worse than we've ever had before. Not sure if it's the way we are handling the plot or the weather. I suspect the latter, especially after the blight.

Things have just not been going well. Everything we have left in the greenhouse (Chillies and Aubergines) have flowers but no fruit has set and the plants now seem static in that state. The overcast weather just don't give any impetus to plants to grow.

I've received a whole load more seeds for next year (DT Brown were offering a free postage over the recent Bank Holiday weekend which I took liberal usage of), so hopefully next year will be better.

It remains to be seen though.

The 2021 Courgette Tally:

46

A Monster harvest

I created a monster...

I have a 3D printer and I use it to make various tools and odds and ends. So I decided to try something a little different. Created a 3D mould of Frankenstein's Monster by using a model as a negative into a cylinder.

By splitting the model in half I could create a mould which a courgette could grow into to fill up the mould. However there were a couple of issues with it. Firstly I should have made the split from ear to ear rather than nose to back of the head. I wrapped the mould in tape to keep it together but the force of the growth stretched the tape and pushed it apart. However it seemed to work out OK in the end as I got a reasonable facsimile of a monsters face out of it.

Elsewhere though the harvest certainly wasn't as good. The sweetcorn was starting to die back so we thought it time to harvest them. To say we were disappointed is an understatement.

This year has not been a great one. But at least I placed my orders for seeds for next year. Hopefully it will be a better one.

The 2021 Courgette Tally:

40