Ivy: A Battle Won

Gone but not forgotten: the Ivy has left its’ mark

Well it took some doing and like its’ historical namesake, Rasputin (the ivy) withstood many attempts to prise it away from the wall but perseverance has paid off and finally, yesterday late afternoon, the last of this annoying climber made its’ way into our brown recycling bin. But it has left its’ mark on the walls and and roof and Mud foresees a stint of house painting and roof repairs coming up in the not so distant future.

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Poisoned Ivy

I might finally be winning this war!

If gardeners or would be gardeners take just one piece of advice away from my blog let it be this: never, ever, EVER be tempted to plant a climbing ivy at the base of or near to the walls of your house. I agree, pictures of ivy clad homes look charming and olde world and often conjure up thoughts of an idyllic way of life, reminiscent of quintessential villages, serving cream teas at the weekly cricket match. However, behind the beauty lies a sinister, dark secret which makes those of us that know think not of the creeping beauty but of an attack of the Triffids …… you see ivy isn’t as innocuous as you might think. Far from it. Ivy is in fact, intent on world domination and can reduce the creations of mankind to rubble, quite literally and what is more, Ivy is nigh on impossible to destroy, short of using nuclear strength weed killers which would then render an entire section of your garden useless for millennia. Well, okay, maybe not millennia but you know what I mean!

The holly and the ivy …. oh, and a lot of laurel.

We’ve had glorious sunny, albeit a bit cold, weather over the last couple of days and I could easily believe that spring is just around the corner but for the knowledge that, in recent years, things have never been that simple and it is more than possible to have snow over Easter and frosts in mid May.

Saturday, for example, was so bitterly cold, that we had the log burner roaring away in the lounge, as a secondary heating source, supporting the solid fuel Rayburn which has the job of heating all our hot water, as well as 4 radiators and cooking our food. It was a lovely nostalgic sight though, with the stove door open and coals burning away , emulating the terribly inefficient open fire that had been in situ when we moved in 10 years ago. We were all quite cosy and toasty warm, with Mud and the Mudlets trying to see ‘pictures’ in the flames.

Seedling ER and a lesson learnt!

 In life there are economies and then there are false economies and using last years left over compost falls, it would appear, into the latter of these categories.

I would like to point out at this juncture that the compost I used to re-pot the first batch of seedlings, was from a previously unopened bag and so I thought, quite naturally I think, that the contents would be okay.

Don’t stand still …..

I was once told that if you stood still long enough at the Mudlets’ school, you would be considered a willing volunteer and find yourself roped in to helping out in some way.

Well I’ve never actually ‘stood still’ as it were and in fact I’ve helped out wherever I can, making teas and coffee, manning stalls at various fairs and fetes, baking buns for refreshments etc. and over the last couple of years I’ve helped out with gardening club. Last year the adult in charge of the vegetable garden left and the club and vegetable patch were left in a kind of limbo.