Weeds

It seems that everywhere I look, I see weeds. The winter rain has made them sprout with glorious abundance. The spot where our pool used to be now looks like this.




I don't know how many buckets of couch grass I've pulled out over the years, but it's still coming up where it shouldn't.




Because of my hippy (according to my daughters) views on herbicides, I can't bring myself to spray weeds. So that really only leaves pulling them out as a solution. I believe, or sincerely hope, that persistence will win out, and that the weeds will eventually just give up.

Some weeds are really very pretty (and useful). We have hundreds of lupins coming up everywhere - I really don't know where they came from. Apart from the nitrogen-fixing function, they have lovely velvety leaves as well as the gorgeous blue flowers (still to come).



I can remember sitting on the grass during sport in primary school, drinking the sap from these flowers. I think they're called sour-sap, or something similar. Their flowers are such a bright cheerful yellow, it seems a shame to pull them out.


After reading The Wilderness Garden, I've adopted the Jackie French approach of throwing weeds on a pile where they can happily compost themselves. Perhaps this is why they come back so prolifically every year!