Starting work on a new garden: The Sock of Doom

Following on from last week's blog, I thought I would write a quick update. I'm going to leave mentioning the lawns from now on, unless there is something specific which I think may be of interest.So today, I got to working on one of the shrub borders. The shrubs themselves don't seem to be in too bad a shape but the spaces around and inbetween them are a bit of a mess. This (I assume) is partly a result of the burgeoning squirrel population which insist on burying all sorts of seeds and kernels in the border and then forgetting about them. The progression of time and the seasons leads to a vast array of tree saplings growing through the shrubs - mainly sycamore but with one or two horse-chestnuts for good measure and variety in the squirrel diet.One of these horse-chestnuts was a little too big to be uprooted by hand and the border is a little too dense for me to get in there with a spade or fork. Having read the discussion about getting rid of knotweed on this very site, I decided to try the 'Glove of Death' remedy. Unfortunately, I don't have any woolen gloves so I had to resort to the 'Sock of Doom'. It doesn't take much working out how to do it... I'm not sure how well it will work but I'll give it a couple of weeks and then have another try.I can't really say that the rest of the day's work was of particular note - I sprayed the patio & driveway to get rid of the weeds, pulled up a load of brambles, shouted loudly at some dead Berberis branches when they ripped my hands to pieces and got invaded by a pair of pea-hens (I think).Oh, and I got quite a nice email from the owners who had noticed the difference that my work is making on the garden.

"I have been using Melcourt Sylvagrow for a few years now. Bracken based & no wood fibre or crap within it. I tend to mix in some Perlite depending on what it is being used for. It was sold in 50Lt bags until last spring when they dropped 20% out,…"

"Hi Henry - Sounds like the starter motor is trying to turn the engine over but it has jammed. You could try freeing it off by rocking the machine backwards and forwards. It may work. Did for me on an Etesia 124. Good luck."

"I'm trying out Uncle Tom's Rose Tonic this year as well as Sulphur Rose and am keen to see the results. Obviously I can't recommend them yet, but will report back if they work. "

Comments

PRO

Phil Voice July 5, 2008 at 2:39pm

I like it - The sock of death!

My kids will probably say that I would not need to add the weed killer to my socks to kill off weeds, or the odd passing cow!

BTW, if you need to link directly to an individual reply rather than the whole thread. look for the little chain link which is a permalink.

Here is the post from Mike Seaton on the 'Glove of Death'