Thursday 20 June 2013

Unkempt land.

When we first decided to move to Scotland from England the thought of having 4 acres of land to play about with made me as giddy as a schoolgirl. My imagination was full of ideas of paddocks sectioned off with native hedging and clumps of deciduous trees (90% of the trees here are Firs - nice but blah) and a couple of horses right outside my front door - after all horses were the incentive for me coming this far in the first place.
The reality has been quite different though. During the first couple of years we bulldozed about 3 acres of Gorse bush and set light to it in a few large clumps (google earth still shows the cleared land with fires alight)  naively believing this would rid us of the prickly god awful plant. 18 months later the Gorse was as big and rampant as ever and those fires would relight with every wind thanks to the peat content of the soil.
For  a few years while building the house I didn't have a garden but I did have an area round the pond where Mr TG built me a greenhouse and a couple of raised beds for veggies. I made a little garden area among the veg beds and this was my little piece of heaven, I loved keeping it immaculate - such a contrast from the building work.
Then Mr TG bought me the polytunnel and I had another area for growing and planting - still small enough for me to keep on top of.
Now we have the house garden projects and while I love love love my garden I have seriously neglected everywhere else. I post lovely photos of the nice parts of the land but now I'm going to show you the embarrasssing, neglected areas that I seriously worry about me being able to get a handle on ever again.


This is where I walk from the greenhouse to the polytunnel - honestly there is a path there somewhere. The tree was planted there temporarily next to a Gunnera - it's too large to move now. The pond is to the left but the weeds continue all to the right and as far as you can see in front.



This is the other path to the polytunnel although when I say path it's now weed covered gravel. These weeds - mainly Comfrey it seems - are head height. This is so embarrassing!



I couldn't resist this one, it's now typical of several places I once tended so vigorously - I even hand bashed all that slate on the ground.
A huge weed growing int the flower bed with a dead plant taken over by a weed in the pot.



This is looking back toward the house from the pond. The area to the right was covered in black plastic years ago to control the weeds until I decided what to do with it - fail!



Turn around and this is facing the pond. Those reeds have covered 70% of the pond now but it will have to wait for Mr TG to get in there because I've seen the Jurassic creatures living in it.



This weed is the bane of my life - horsetail. I stupidly erected raised veg beds next to the pond where the horsetail is rampant.



This was my area of paradise when all I had to manage was this. Notice the empty veg beds (except for some very ill looking French beans against the blue supports). I simply cannot get a handle on the Horsetail in this area, it literally grows overnight.

That's just a few of the areas that are suffering from neglect. 4 acres suddenly feels like an awful lot of land now 10 years later. It's such a shame because it would be lovely to have well kept land that looks tidy wherever you go but I simply would not be able to keep it looking good. I've set the seed of thought in Mr TG's mind about moving the polytunnel and my workshop to the side of house. If I revamped that area and had everything I needed there then I'd never have to go up to the other side of the land again and wouldn't have to worry about upkeep of it - win win!

13 comments:

  1. Just think though you are providing a haven for wildlife. The birds will love nesting in the gorse.

    I think the idea of starting near the house are gradually working out from there is the way to go!

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    1. I'm hiding indoors today Sue lol, the thought of another day weeding and fighting the jungle to the polytunnel is too much. Crafting today!
      You're right the birds do love that gorse and I spotted a couple of sedge warblers the other day making a racket.

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  2. I think lots of those pics look great....weeds are good for wildlife if unsightly to us. Why not let some of the land go to meadow....cut the weeds down, mow it and scatter meadow seed.....lol....easier said than done eh!!!

    Seriously....I know four acres is a lot...but I'd swop my third of an acre for it!!!

    Now that comfrey is ideal....slam in it buckets with water and you'll have a fab fertilizer. I sympathize re the horsetail though, it's the same her, the stuff is indestructable! Keep going gal!xxxx

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    1. Think I've decided a 4 acre meadow sounds just the ticket snowbird lol.
      Believe me when we had a smaller parcel of land I dreamed of this much, the reality is not quite so rosy though. Although if our darned digger were fixed I think we'd pretty much be on top of everything right now!
      The comfrey is stewing as we speak ;)

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  3. It is interesting to see the various challenges gardeners have to face. I live in a place where it can get to -35 -40 degrees Celsius in winter so a mild Scottish climate would, at first hand, seem marvelous. In fact I see that it simply presents a different set of problems!
    You have to be tenacious! Keep at it.

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    1. That's mighty cold Alain. I thought our winters were a challenge, especially being coastal but I don't think I could manage them that cold.
      I'm definitely tenacious but I'm a negative person too - which I'm working on lol.

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  4. I am feeling your pain. I am getting crazy with weeds in 0.2 acres of land, and you with 4 acres!!! Honestly, how do people manage to have such nice garden without weed, I wonder. However, many of your weed have nice color - white, purple, blue. What's that weed with big, broad leaves. It's in the right corner in the first picture and also in the pot?

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    1. Thats dock leaves KL, they're a terror to remove as they root way down but on the upside they are an analgesic against stinging nettles - if you get stung by nettle rubbing a crushed dock leaf soothes it.
      The purple stuff is comfrey and I'm making a fabulous plant tea with it :)
      As for nice gardens that are large, i think the owners must either have bucketloads of energy or can afford to employ gardeners - oh what I could achieve with a few gardeners at my disposal!

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  5. I think managing four acres must be very hard work, but the wildlife will love the wild areas, of course - and bumblebees will love that comfrey. But good luck with your Horsetail battle, the bane of my garden here is Creeping Buttercup.

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    1. I do have creeping buttercup Wendy but not to a bad extent. The horsetail is mainly round the pond area as it likes damp soil but once it takes hold it will spread forever and now it's coming up through all my veg beds - I gave up trying to get it out yesterday, it's soul destroying!

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  6. Oh Linda I know exactly how you feel...so many of my beds are just 4 ft tall weeds...I cannot get control and the horsetail is taking over all the gardens including the veg beds which had to be planted amongst it since that was where there was sun...I feel defeated and a failure as a parent as I have neglected the garden. Hoping to get a handle on it this summer.

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    1. Just know that you're not alone Donna. I think we often give ourselves unrealistic tasks, there's no fighting nature imo - at least we can try to fight it but we're always going to lose, nature will out.
      Also if we spend so much time fighting against what nature has thrown at us when in the world are we supposed to enjoy it? There never seems any time to just sit and enjoy does there!
      I'm definitely going to try to be more realistic with what I can feasibly do by myself and I'm going to learn to live with nature rather than work against it.
      Take it easy on yourself Donna, I have yet to find something (even weedkiller) that will sort out horsetail. The only thing I have found is that it isn't strong enough (unlike dock) to pierce polythene so the areas that I polythened and then gravelled or barked are completely horsetail free :)

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  7. I think people who have 4 acres of well-tended land must have paid help! I used to have dreams of converting more of my 1.5 acres into garden, but I've decided to leave the 1 acre of woodlands wild and just focus on the 1/2 acre where the house is. I just can't handle any more, and the wildlands are good for the wildlife and the local ecology. -Jean

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