Weeds

 Dave has been talking about weeds on his blog, Northsider, he has a lovely organic growing space, it's hard work, he grows all his veg and propagate plants to sell, it's somewhere I would love, it would be my hubby's nightmare. 

Dave asked me to show my fake grass paths around the raised beds, if you remember almost 2 years ago hubby made 2 raised beds, which we placed on our back section of our fake lawn, you can see the whole post here. After placing the beds, we cut away the grass and dug out back to the soil, 

They have been a huge success for me, I manage a small veg harvest, each bed is 200cm x 100cm, the size was decided on the space we had, taking the width of our lawn, less the width of 2 paths, roughly 2 meters, therefore making 2 x 1 meter beds.

There is never enough room, I have a raspberry bed, with my blueberries in a tub in the middle, in another bed I have a strawberry tower, with rhubarb and a gooseberry bush. I have loads of buckets and round bags, which allows more summer veg.

I am always on the lookout for weeds, with 6foot fences around our garden, they help keep weeds out, I try and grow as much as I can from self sown seeds, I have more weeds in my flower beds, I often purchase plants and weeds are arrive in those pots. I am outside every day, so as soon as I see a weed I pull it, I know birds drop seeds, I have found a couple flowering plants which I have not planted. 

With my green paths, I get very few weeds, nothing in the middle, only ever along the decking boards of the raised beds, I pull them whilst they are tiny before the roots get too huge, I don't add weeds to my compost bin, and if I purchase any compost I try and use good brands, I'm using Westlands at the moment.

We have lived here 16 years, it is a small space, easy to maintain, my different beds have been well looked after, the redesigned garden added 3 beds, 2 veg and 1 flower all at the back of our old lawn, hubby built them, I filled them with quality soil, again I'm in control.

I grew up in Somerset, one of 9 children, dad had a huge back garden all full of veg, I understand neat rows, the ability to hoe around the plants, always working to ensure everything grew well, my older brother Mel also loved the veg garden, sadly I don't have any photo's, I have asked my sister to send me copies, she has all mums photo albums, sadly she will ignore my request, I'm visiting soon, maybe she will let me look through them.

The one plant I have introduced is a creeping buttercup, only in the back fruit bed infront of the greenhouse, it was a mistake, I am pulling up runners in hope I can stop it spreading too much, I do love the tiny yellow flowers. The heat has stopped us doing much, so a bit boring here at mo.