It's been a busy and challenging time for the family and I. We have had a long two years and my caring role has increased considerably. I'm still working full time and still trying to do what I can on the garden. Mostly I'm alone so some things such as climbing ladders to do tree cutting and pruning I can't do because if fell or injured myself no one would know as a primary carer to several people I can't place myself at too much risk as my actions impact everyone in the family.
I have slowly made progress at the front garden.
Ivy remains my number one enemy. It's everywhere, entwined around the hedge bottoms, trees, borders, house, walls and fences, creepers etc it looks pretty until you realise that the lovely green hedge which looks lush and vibrant is actually 40% full of ivy and parts of the hedge are dying back as a result. It's not too hard to pull ivy back off a wall or tree although it can damage mortar at times. I haven't found any evidence of this yet. But getting it out of a flower bed or the bottom of a hedge is akin to medieval water torture, especially if said hedge has a friendly neighbourhood wild rose hiding, just wait to give an unsuspecting seeking hand a special hug. I have no idea how I'm going to kill either the ivy or the roses. I think I must have spent hours reading articles on how to kill it. Nothing seems to work. I can't use chemicals, mainly because of the effect on the echo system but also because the hedge will be damaged and it's already a bit grumpy as it is.
In the border it is possible to dig down and try to pull up root runners. A little celebration is had, for each long one found. But this has drawbacks. I don't know what else is in the border which might make a go at growing if the ivy is removed. I don't know what is going to come up once the border is cleared. Grass is a given.
I merrily pull out loads of roots but I fear some may belong to my grumpy hedge. I just have to hope that giving it a bit of a jolt might make it reconsider a growth spurt. I've certainly allowed much more light into the bottom section of 8' that I've done, one another 150' or so to go.
I'm hoping the light will promote growth. (of the hedge, but knowing my luck it'll be the ivy) I haven't managed to get all of the ivy out from in the hedge. Apart from the brambles and roses lurking the ivy is wrapped around the branches and also rooted into the soil making removal time consuming and hard work on the fingers and forearms. I found muscles I knew I had but didn't realise I could hurt so much.
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