Crikey! I'm blogging! You know I hardly ever blog. It all seems well, so fiddly, and like you've got to have something important to say...or a real story to tell. It's so much easier for me to snap a pic of the vegies with Special K and put on Facebook. Tada! I'm done and onto something else.
Blogging, could after all, take up good gardening time. And any of you who know me, already know I begrudge the time it takes to go to the place we call here the Big W to pay the mortgage! So, time is generally, of the essence.
Still, today I felt there was going to be a saga. And sagas are surely blog-worthy? So, the story is, I've been unhappy with my fake cardamom for quite some time. Of course, I originally bought it thinking it was the real deal and even blogged about it here a few years ago (how embarrassing)! Turns out I shouldn't feel so bad - even famous horticulturalists can be fooled. You can read about that, and the difference between what I have growing and true cardamom
here
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| The thick undergrowth looks like a jungle. |
I don't want to totally get rid of it, as the leaves really are quite divine smelling, edible and if watered, it can be quite a lovely plant. My plan for this ever-expanding, monster of a specimen is to go into a large decorative pot which will add some visual interest to The Bountiful Backyard. In the mean time I need to dig it out. It's way too big for the garden bed it is in, and it shades some of the veggie patch.
You can see from the photo it is as tall as the fence and a good metre wide at the base. I've been wanting it out for ages, but, well, it seems like the Mount Kilimanjaro of garden tasks. In a word: insurmountable! The base of it is so thick with growth it looks as though nothing will be able to penetrate it. I hold back a sob and try to be brave as I pick up my trusty Felco secateurs. There could even be something LIVING in the bottom of this, I think. Frankly, I'm hoping it's only a blue tongued lizard and not a snake..... EEEEK!
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| I snipped until the green bin was full.... |
I snip and snip and snip some more. A large locust jumps out from the growth and I stifle a scream. I find the old carcasses of plants that have been swallowed up by this monster plant. I snip so much I fill up my green bin... and until I have blisters on my hands.
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| and until I had blisters. |
I start having fantasies about using a chainsaw to just lop off all the foliage in one hit. Alas, I have no chainsaw. I begin to wonder if a machete is sold at any garden stores. It DOES feel like I am trying to make my way through a jungle, you know!
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| Using the hose to make life easier |
Finally, I've managed a first level cut through the whole plant. How to progress further without a chainsaw? Sometimes brains are more use than brawn in these situations, so I pop the garden hose on the earth around the base and to soak into the soil from the centre of the plant too. Seeing there's been no rain, the ground is rock hard, and that makes Mt Kilimanjaro seem even less doable. Hopefully the water will loosen everything up for me.
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| Kairos models my trusty mattock |
It's time. It's time to bring out my favourite heavy duty tool - the mattock! I hack and chop and manage to dig out small sections of roots with my trusty mattock.
Thank goodness it's a fairly shallow rooted plant! Faster, higher, stronger I tell myself, as I chip away - or in the words of the Olympic motto - citius, altius, fortius! It's getting hot. My blisters are stinging. I look down. I think I've maybe dug out a dinner plate sized hole....
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| root of Alpinia nutans |
Hmmmm, turns out this could be a marathon, not a sprint.....
It might be time for an afternoon nap. Time to dream of what I might plant here once this nemesis of mine has been removed. Stay tuned for what I hope to be the final episode, next weekend!
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| The foreman inspects the small section that's been removed. |
