Weeding

[poliphilo]

 I know it's not really the case but it seems as if all the things you don't want growing in the garden grow like mad and all the things you do want don't.

I cleared a bed of weeds at the back end of last year- and had it all neat and tidy- like some Roman general had razed it and sowed it with salt- and now it's choked with grass and dandelions and a huge plant called Bristly Ox Tongue- which is a sort of dandelion that's niggardly with the flowers and generous with the dark green leaves- and the things I've planted are disappearing in the biomass like featured actors in an ever growing crowd of extras.

( As at the end of Les Enfants du Paradis....)

 How did that happen? When did it happen?

I started in on setting all to rights again this morning. I've never know a soil so rich in snails and woodlice....

Alison next door murders her snails, but I haven't the heart. They're such beautiful critters.

(I've eaten snails (in France)- and they're delicious- but somehow that's different from just killing and discarding them....)

The things I have in that bed that I do want growing there include

Wisteria- some of it flourishing and some of it struggling

Gooseberries- one bush doing fine the other not

A red currant bush- doing great

Honeysuckle- taking off this year after a slow start

A hawthorn- doing OK

Poppies- self sown from the ones that made such a brave show last year.....