I get my bark chippings from our local tree surgeon, they let you collect it for free and they even sometimes have some lovely stepping stones. The only downside is that they close at 11.30am on a Saturday and they're not open on a Sunday so this weekend when I wanted to make a start on covering my paths they had closed by the time we'd finished ferrying the kids around the place!
It did however give me a chance to finish off the weed membrane against the back fence, it's not an area that I particularly walk on a lot so the weeds had gone mad and my poor neighbour, who keeps his plot beautiful, was probably cursing me with the weeds growing up and through the fence! It's also great that I got that finished because it would be sensible to start in that corner to put the bark down and work back towards the gate so I'm not barrowing over what I've already put down! Next week I will be getting up super early on Saturday to start filling my ton bags with chippings and hopefully I will get at least 3 loads done before they close and then we'll see how much I'm actually going to need.
I've also decided that I'm going to cover my fruit bed again; you might remember that some weeks ago I uncovered it because there were weeds pushing up around my fruit bushes and I was met with an absolute mess of weeds. I cleared it all and left it uncovered. I really wish I'd trusted my original decision. I originally decided to cover it because of a number of factors...
- the bed it too wide for a normal bed (6'6") and therefore much more difficult to weed because it's a stretch to reach the middle.
- the fruit bushes are all spikey and it's really hard to weed around them
- the bird netting that is over the bed makes it really awkward to get in and weed regularly
Since removing the membrane from the bed I have of course struggled to weed and therefore this weekend I needed to clear the bed again and so I have decided that I am going to cover it again and then mulch with bark chippings. Today I finished the weeding and managed to get the rhubarb into the ground. I know it's not an ideal time to transplant but I removed all of the stalks and had minimul disturbance to the rootball and crown so hopefully I'll still get some more stalks from it.
I was also excited to see a Jay on my plot (photo in June 2016), I've never seen one before so it's always fabulous to see something new. On the downside I also have a squirrel (Mr Squibble) that has started visiting and has already trashed one of my bird feeders. I love wildife but I think I'm going to have to look at a baffle to discourage it.
I moved 2 of my sweet potatoes up to the plot with the intention of putting the into one of my potato bags but I didn't get a chance. I've left 2 at home in the greenhouse and whilst I'll also put them into potato bags I will keep them at home so that I can compare how they grow in the different areas.
Until next week - happy gardening!
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