Returning to a post holiday garden is enough to make anyone grumpy!

Mrs GG and I have just returned from a week at Haryln Bay in North Cornwall, which was a wonderful break from lock-down Staffordshire. But returning home to my weed ridden garden is enough to make anyone grumpy.

The main culprits are Shepherd’s Purse, wood sorrel, goose grass and wood groundsel. Before we left, we had a major blitz on weeds, focussing particularly on these four. But just six days of warm, wet weather had produced a bonanza of horror.

We organised for someone to come in and water the greenhouse, urns and runner beans but he clearly didn’t recognise the four deadly weeds. They are everywhere but, in particular, on the asparagus bed where they adore the thick layer of compost on the surface. A perfect place for them rich, warm, sunny and moist.

Goose grass seems to have a mind of its own, twirling itself round the most difficult to access plants and shrubs. Wood sorrel inhabits any crack or crevice and Shepherd’s Purse is an absolute menace almost anywhere in the garden. The major problem is picking it up without allowing it to shed its seeds to generate another population. An old gardener I know in the Peak District says of this particular weed “One year’s seeds, seven year’s weeds”. And he’s quite right. You have got to pull it out as soon as you see it, don’t wait until it’s a large plant or you will risk spilling its seeds.

Never put these onto a compost heap. I collect them up and put into a bag in the dustbin, out of harms way.

But my real Bete noir is the dreaded wood groundsel. The only good thing about it is that it’s quite easy to pull up, roots and all. But it does grow in profusion throughout the garden. Being an old softie and knowing that birds and some insects like it, I leave areas of it on uncultivated areas of the garden, but it has to some out in all beds, borders and the veg garden.

Whilst in Cornwall we stayed in a picturesque cottage with a wonderful garden and those planted slate low walls. They were full of viburnum and those wonderful Erigeron daisies. The owner of the cottage is quite clearly a gifted gardener and it was wonderful to wonder round and admire her planting. The one the really struck Mrs GG was the Giant viper’s-bugloss or Tree Echium. These can grow as high as 9 feet and are covered in small blue flowers that are a magnet for bees.

I’ve done a bit of research and, sadly, it is unlikely to grow in Staffordshire which is reputed to be the coldest county in England – being so far from the sea. Pity because it is a stunning plant and would have looked wonderful at the back of our herbaceous border.

Back to the weed control.

Happy Gardening!

The Grumpy Gardener