The vegetable patch - 1

Although my retirement doesn't start until September 1st, I have spent some of the school summer holidays getting a vegetable patch underway. Because I like the garden borders I don't want to get rid of them so the vegetable patch is going to be taking up part of the 'lawn'. (The grass is so full of weeds and moss that it is not really good enough to have the title of lawn.)
Near the beginning of the holiday Frank laid out a rectangle of paving slabs while I supervised. The undulating surface of the grassy patch was highlighted by the rectangle of slabs. When we were satisfied that it didn't matter whether the plot was parallel to any particlar edge of the garden we then needed to think about clearing the grass and weeds.


Digging up turf and clearing from the soil of the roots of the many weeds that grow in with the grass is hard labour, and there are easier ways of doing this without resorting to chemicals. Depriving plants of light is one of the easier methods of clearing unwanted greenery - all it requires is something to cover the surface and patience. The sharp-eyed will notice the Frank made the patch longer before the area was covered with a polythene membrane usually used for damproofing in building. The edges were firmly kept in place by house bricks. It gave the garden a look of elegance - with a little imagination it could be thought of as an outdoor swimming pool.


A few weeks later - I am impatient to see how things are progressing under the cover so I persuaded to lift a corner and let me see the yellowing plants.

Oh!!
It looks as if the plants under the polythene enjoy the conditions so much that they are doing better than the plants that have been left exposed to the elements. Both grass and weeds are doing well.
Perhaps the blue polythene has not excluded the light very well but it has sheltered the area from the excessive rainfall of the last few weeks.

Back to the drawing board.