I've been getting pretty grubby this week in the yard. Germans are crazy about gardening; there's some sort of hazy cultural ideal about being close to nature that drives anyone here with a patch of dirt to cultivate, cultivate, cultivate. So I inherited a fairly well landscaped garden, or more specifically a yard encircled by a 6 foot hedge and several foot deep flower beds. My front yard, what isn't tiled over, is made up of a grassy parking space and two further beds.
So the pressure to keep this up drives me out in the yard frequently. Truth be told, I really enjoy working in the yard, but the relative formality of the layout requires me to actually fight with the parts of nature which aren't welcome.
With what am I in conflict?
Weeds: I'm pretty laid back about weeds in the lawn (much to S's chagrin); as long as it is either green or clover, it's ok with me, but dandelions drive me nuts. I have never seen such monster dandelions as I do here; part of me wonders if they actually evolved here, they are so large. They I pursue with a vengence.
Stinging nettle: I always thought this was a made-up plant; I only ever heard of it in fairy tails. But they actually spring up like, well, dandelions, usually along the borders of fences, fields or hedges. Brush them and the skin immediately starts an unbearable burning itch that lasts about 15-30 minutes.
Ivy: I can't believe that people buy this stuff in garden centers here, because I am constantly finding it invading my beds.
Brambles: Another fairy-tale plant (remember the thorn bushes around Sleeping Beauty's castle?), these form 15 foot-high mounds of impenetrable plant whenever they get the chance. The try to sneak into your yard though the hedge. But on the other hand, you can go pick pounds'-worth of blackberries just on what grows in the fields near the house (just wear long pants and closed shoes against the nettles!).
In between these invaders grow my tomatoes, peppers, currants, gooseberries, the occasional neglect-resistant rose bush, and newly added blueberries. If I win, we'll have something to harvest. But I won't be cutting off contact with the farmers' market folks just yet.
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The ongoing story of my transformation from career-minded American mom to German Hausfrau...
2 comments:
We have some low-lying blackberries in our back yard. I have to pick them with care to avoid getting scratched by thorns. However, ever since he could crawl, Xan just wanders down the row, sticks his arms in the bushes, and happily munches the berries without single scrape!
I hope your garden is very fruitful and vegetable-full!
Children are blessed that way. Must be their innocence. S., for his part, proudly displays the wounds he gets from gathering wild blackberries. I think it's a bit of an atavistic hunter/gatherer thing.
If you can find one, try putting in a currant bush. Supposedly you can make jelly with the, but ours don't last long enough - they get eaten with vanilla pudding.
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