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With my new dynamic self.. time to take on that knotweed again. Little bit of interweb research (wikipedia > search ‘japanese knotweed’) I popped off to B&Q to nab me some toxins.

Back home with my box of fun (hopeful plant death), I set about in my alchemy lab (kitchen) to concoct the vial brew (put the disolvable plastic sachet into water, whilst trying not to eat it).

To my Joy (litterally GLEE) it turns out I have managed to purchase “Alpha-betty-weedkiller” !!

Lookit!:

Seems all the lettering off the disolvable sachet came up to the surface! what fun!

Still at the back of our garden and forefront of our minds at home is Japanese Knotweed. Still it grows, hurting my eyes when I look out the kitchen window. Too costly to have removed at the moment it just continues to grow. This has lead to a rather excited Kerry calling me at work with a discovery. An article on BBC News comments on an on going project to bring some of the plants natural predators to the UK to try and control its spread.

Predators which attack other plants native to the UK are being ruled out, and only those which love the JK are being considered. Exciting stuff! A plan has been submitted to the government to see if it can be permitted, however, I suspect there will be objections. Probably from some hippy movements (always seems to be one to object to everything) and I also suspect there may be some comment from the current bunch of Knotweed removal ’specialists’ of those we have contacted are charging upwards of £2000-3000 to remove what we have at the back of our house. I imagine they would not be too impressed.

I wonder how the govt. will go, will they continue to do nothing, or will they actually take some action.

we have them.. Due to low funds and the access requirements of the missus, we have a rather rushed parking configuration. One which involves our garden and her car. Of course the ground has been hard and solid everytime I have been on it. Alas I tend to not wander around our grassybits when the weather has been determined to wash chunks of the country away. So it kinda went a bit marshy.. and the car tended to decide to re-enact the 1st world war and dig itself in… ARSE

Big thanks to pie for helping me yesterday to fling down some flags to hopefully give the car a solid surface to run along.. and also for helping with the towing of aforementioned car out of its little muddy hovel. My back is reminding me that I didn’t bend in the correct places and that I am far too unfit now.. curses… Just hope this bloody weather hangs back.. its getting to be very annoying now.

Made my 1st attempt at getting some hedge roots out this Sat, alas it didn’t go as well as I hoped, probably down to me not being an Atlas like muscleman. Nope, weedy tech blokes are not used to digging stuff out of the ground. Bloody thing doesn’t want to budge. The random rain/sun combo wasn’t helping either.

Thing ingenious use of power tools (doubt the council will let me play with C4) may be the answer, was wondering the possibility of renting a small JCB style digger to play with, though I remember from my time on a demo site that there is regs (probably a union) and licenses etc.. dunno how much the hire companies care who is driving their toys.

No idea on price either.

I have updated the gallery with pics, save you from them here

Obtained some branch loppers from B&Q and managed to zip through 2 whole bushes in about 10 minutes. Hole is now as wide as the marks on the pavement on the other side of the wall. So going to remove an extra bush each size to improve visability (and I wanna lop more )

Gallery of Driveway Images here

Just a quick bit of hackery tonight as I Was off on a 25 man raid

but

PLUS

EQUALS

Right, council have their money and know where we want it. So time to make a start on getting the actual wall hole installed and flat bit for car storage. Going to try and do a bit each night after work etc.

Last night I think I did the hard part of clearing the hedge, breaking into it and adding a hole :

Then after some shears, some swearing and some sawing :

Just a small start.. but it’s a start. The whole path making portion is going to be an arse…

Well, its that time of year again.. sigh..

Should have started earlier but what with an acute case of apathy and then just when I thought of doing something I went and pinged my back.. anyway, decided to try doing a little each day (weather and apathy permitting). Monday planned to have a mass clear of the grass and weeds growing between the cracks in flags near the back of the house. Of course Kerry beat me to the initial clearing.. dammit! makes it look like it was a retroactive plan now :/ anyway, I cleared a chunk of it.

Last night, post work, a little light strimming.. nothing too strenuous, tho minding the Knotweed infestation (don’t want to be spreading its spawn over the rest of the so far OK land). Strimming done and with the Knotweed (now further into the good land.. grr), I stood and looked UP! at this years Knotweed growth…

And went and got the sheers. Just a bit, the bit which has this year sought the help of a new alie … nettles.. So a cleaving I went, making nice clean cuts just below the 2nd knuckle from the ground. Stacking the severed stalks on contaminated ground. Was a it of a pain, bending cutting, collecting, standing moving to contaminated flag land, piling, returning, repeat. So I thought on stopping once the front regiment of Knotweed was down.

However, once past the awkward bit at the front, I could pretty much cut it and leave it where it fell, just redirect its fall into a neat pile and move on. So I did a ‘few’ more. SLiced down some of the big buggers at the back (2+ inch diameter stems), and soon enough the whole lot was stacked into a kinda knotweed corral! HUZZAH! Now to dry out the bastard and burn the bugger. Hopefully this sunny warm weather will dry it out nice and quick and I can have me a nice cookdown.

Bloody sore today tho.

OK, gardening time again, it’s just growing wild again.. bloody thing should be old enough to look after itself.

So today I had some ‘fun’ with a hand axe, and turned this:

Into :

Yeah, I know, I should have taken a pic from the same place before and after but.. meh. The stack onthe right is the elder all stacked up nice and neat(ish). I just have to get it to the tip now. If you click the pics it will take you to the gallery.