War on Weeds

We are approaching the end of summer. The garden routine is a happy blend of an early potter in the garden, weeding, trimming, mulching and watering; tea and biscuits late morning, and then a lazy afternoon. Each day we choose one of the many glorious spots we have to sit, stare and soak up the scenery. We currently have 9 places to sit and chill in the garden and we will soon have one more - my next whimsy, stay tuned.

If you ignore the fact that the garden is a little rough around the edges, it's pretty well behaving itself. Blackberries don't get the hint that we don't want them but they never get bigger than a straggly weed. Ruprecht hates cape weeds with a vengeance and has been on a mission to eliminate them from the grass. We've already broken one contraption that pulls up broad leaf weeds without breaking your back and are onto a new improved version. It wouldn't be out of place in a torture chamber in a horror movie.

Imagine our angst when we realised that paspalum (bigger and uglier than cape weeds) said thanks very much for the empty patches in the grass and has started to take over. So now we are both on a mission to control the paspalum. Another side mission I have chosen to accept is to annihilate dandelions. We have had many scintillating conversations into the evening discussing the relative merits of different grasses to plant in the bare patches. I think Ruprecht could go on Mastermind with grass as his specialist subject.

So garden - beautiful, but flowers on the decline. Veggie patch/hydroponics - acceptable. We are not stockpiling for hibernation but we have more than enough to keep us going. Oh, and our 2 apples are doing very nicely. Weed wacking - weeds winning at the moment, but not in the garden beds.

As the weather changes the antics of the birds seem to change. The garden is still alive with birds but the sparrows seem to have taken centre stage. They fly, en masse, from one tree to another and come in 3 waves. If one lands on the bird bath, 20 will follow and then they all fly off together. Mr Black and Ms Brown and family have developed a liking for dry dog food and will almost take it from the bowl while the dog is eating. They certainly don't fear any of us.

I look forward to the change of season. Our autumn trees will have their turn to shine. The garden will take on a different character and weeds will die! Gotta be happy with that!