The War against the Weeds part 1

Let the Weedwar begin! 

Today (May 7th) was 2013's first sunny day with temps above 10C. The Goutweed has already started to grow. That friggin piece of weed is the worst kind of enemy. It is almost impossible to get rid of, because it spreads like a plague. The kind of toxic you would need to get rid of it, would be illegal to buy in stores. That's how badass this mofo is.

Not even alphabetical order in my garden...

It's supposed to be a herb used as medicine in the old days. Among other qualities, it is used as a remedy to ease arthritic pains, which is rather ironic. I haven't ever tested it. All I know is that the torturous aching I'm experiencing having to pull it up, is killing me.

We've attacked() the garden hedge. The part of the hedge that divides our garden with the neighbour – the old hedge that our former neighbour planted, that we hadn't really bothered with, since it wasn't ours and the former neighbours had very specific rules for what to do with it - had more or less turned into a jungle. We needed a friggin chainsaw for some of the branches. Don't get hedges, peeps, if you can avoid it. It is so much work to keep them trimmed. And cutting it is only half the job. Afterwards you have to get rid of all the cut off branshes, etc. Since our hedge is surrounding all of our garden, this means we have to carry it around to the other side of the house, or lift every branch one by one over the hedge to get it on the trailer. We only have a normal sized trailer, which means we'd be driving back and forth for a week... We decided to borrow FIL's twig chopper instead.  

Similar to what this lady is using

It is also taking forever. It is taking forever and a half and it is B.O.R.I.N.G. I worked for two days last week to get half of it chopped and cleared. It's enough to make you weep, I tell yah! Yesterday we started trimming the rest of the hedge. My arms and shoulders still ached like crazy from last week, so Runar had to chop the branches himself. He wasn't happy. I had to pay him in beers+++ He'll have to slave some more after work today, before it's done.

It has to be done this week by Thursday the latest. It is our national day this Friday. All gardens are supposed to be fixed and ready for that day. With spring coming so late, it has been a race to get it done. I've planted pansies in two of my urns. They can handle a frost night or two. The rest will have to wait. Not even tulips are flowering yet, which shows how late spring is this year...

Later this summer, or whenever we find the time, we have to cut down the old sick apple tree and a couple of birch trees. The biggest one needs to be cut in half to avoid it falling on houses and killing people...ugh, not looking forward to that. It will involve Simen climbing up in the tree with a chainsaw, while Runar is standing on the ground shouting out instructions.

And what's up with the lawn? Seems ours is just moss and weed. I've used fertilizer and some kind of  lawn-cleaner-moss-killer magic stuff that cost me the whites off me eyes.

Most likely I'll be mowing the lawn twice as often and the weeds will have a ball until the snow comes next winter  <.<

Up at Vintland the winter has barely lost it's grip. Not much is growing up there yet...




We had a great time visiting Helene. I got us lost a couple of times - as is what a proper roadtrip is like, right?!? I'll get a blog post up when I've gotten the photos.