Possible Second Veg Area
So... This morning saw me wandering around the garden wondering what to do. With no jobs desperate to be done and enjoying the early spring day I decided to make a start on my one and only project for the year.
Beyond the back of my garden is a huge parcel of scrap land that nominally is what we in the UK call "Crown Land". Nobody has claimed it, the local council refuses to do anything with it and so, with no owner it reverts to the crown.
Anyway. A few years ago we had a huge problem when the council decided to come into that area and clear out debris after years of local kids having dens and people fly tipping. But they had a bit of an accident and a tractor they were using crushed a sewer pipe and that led to the whole area flooding badly...
As a result all the fences at the back of the gardens fell down due to the water soaking the ground. When they were reinstated we all lost about 3 ft off the back of the gardens.
In a couple of the following images you will see an old concrete post. That used to be mine and my neighbours back fence.
So I have decided to reclaim some of mine. I cut a part of my fence away and attached a couple of hinges to make a gate.
I then cleared the area immediately around the new gate and took stock of just what I would need to clear.... Oh boy!
That is just the accumulated trash from old plants, castings from mine and my neighbours gardens and the old shrubs, nettles and brambles that now infest the area.
With a spade, a rake and a good breakfast in me I set to work.
All in all clearing the trash away wasn't so bad. It was a pain, to be sure, but I've done worse at work... Although normally I would have run over it with a big mower to chew up the big bits first! Momma din't raise no fool! B-)
It took me an hour or so to get it down to this. I still have a lot to do. I pulled up most of the roots that I could find. I will have to take a fork to it to loosen it all off and turn it over to find the rest of the roots. Either that or I may hire a micro-tiller for a day and just blitz the lot.
BTW. the red lines, top and bottom, denote my borders with next door on either side.
The line on the right is where the land starts to slope away... I'm not going to go much further beyond that. If I am happy I may have a word with the neighbour at the top of the picture and ask him if he minds me stealing some of his area.If he says yes then I'll clear that, too.
So what am I going to be doing here?
Well... In all honesty, all I am doing for now is getting on top of the brambles, nettles and weeds that have been invading my garden for the past few years. You can see how bad it is next door to me. Mine used to be that bad before I hacked it back late last year with a hedge trimmer!
If I manage to find a someone who sells them, I may use this area to do some hay bale growing... If not this year then definitely next year. Until then... It will just be nice to not have to fight nettles and brambles for a season. >.>
#Gardening #Clearing #Horticulture #Weeds #Invasion