Up the Garden Path – the gardeners new year – weeding - objectives

Today is a cloudy day. The first day of spring, by tradition. In a few days the clocks will be changing, and there are now a lot of crocuses out in flower. Every single plant is starting to come alive. We have had the long days of winter, with three foot of snow, and there is the hope of a new year.

Some people thing that the new year starts on January the first.

But for a gardener, today is the start of the year. Already, the first weeds are thrusting out of the soil, demented evil glowing from them, as they plan an evil rampage against the forces of good. And, although the soil is not yet workable...

This is it.

The start of the new gardening year.

And with it, the start of a new gardening blog which I hope will be a hardy perennial, going deep into the soil, and bringing up nutrients. But, maybe not. This blog will be a gardening blog, covering all kinds of details about my life and times in gardening.

One spade at a time.

Today will be the first time in a week that I have had the chance to get weeding. I find weeding at this time of year – in spring – more difficult than any other time of year. It is hard to recognise what is weed and what is plant.  Most of the garden is covered in the debre of winter too... old leaves, bits of string, stalks left on to keep plants warm over winter. So it is bleak in some ways.

But full of hope too. Because at this time of year, you really do see the gardens heart and soul. It is time for some serious work too. Just to get it into order so that you can see the very best of the plants available.

And so, my mind wanders a little, and I consider what I need to do for the following month.

I think the aim is to start the weeding process off, this month. We need to get entire beds weed free and happy. At the moment the weeds are winning just like they do normally at this time of year. So that is this months objective... weeding. That is all. It is too soon yet to do the vegetable planting or sowing of seeds, which I am thinking about.

So how do I go about weeding? There is a difference here between annual and perennial weeds. With annual weeds, I just decapitate at this point in the year. The perennial weeds are more of a problem, and you try to dig out as much of the root as you can. But sometimes that doesn’t work. All you can do is try to get everything.

In the meantime, I’m watching a little blackbird from the window of this room, looking at the garden lawn. The year is good. There is hope. It is time to add some action to that hope, so I will see you again... tomorrow.