The Giant Weed

My garden is very important to me: it’s a place to relax, to play, to work, to get closer to nature.  Last year we moved house, in part at least, to get a bigger garden.  I thought I’d write about some major changes we’re making to our garden.

Our new garden was pretty much a blank canvas when we moved in: lots of grass bounded by hedges and very little in the way of planting. This gave us the confidence to start work on the landscaping early, rather than waiting the recommended one year to see what comes out.  We have a landscaper coming in to do a considerable amount of work in a few weeks time, but in the meantime the tree surgeon has been in to work some magic.

I don’t like cutting trees down.  In fact, I loathe to get rid of any plants, except weeds.  This tree felling I viewed as a major weeding exercise.  Sycamores are generally considered to be weeds and this tree was a sycamore.  Sycamores spread very fast, grow quickly and tend to crowd out other trees.  So the other weekend we weeded a sycamore tree.  As it was quite tall and overhung a neighbour’s garden and the local park, we had to get the professionals in to take it out.  Here’s a picture of them taking out our giant weed.

Taking out the sycamore tree has made a considerable difference to our light levels and should aid our efforts to grow fruit and vegetables in our garden. It’s also given us a new vista and a feeling of openness.  An added bonus is that it’s made our new larger garden seem even larger.  In short it’s been a big success.