Now the intense mowing has got the grass under control, and the strimming has temporarily put the brambles in their place, I can get on with removing the long grass that’s growing amongst the fruit bushes.
This grass is a pest, it smothers the smaller plants and since it grows right amongst the bushes I can’t stick my strimmer in there otherwise it’ll damage the plants I want to keep.
The solution I’ve found is to use more traditional grass removal tools. I have what Amazon calls a “Japanese Weeding Hoe”. It’s sharp – well it was sharp, dragging it through the ground and stabbing at stubborn weeds has given it a less sharp edge now. I need a file. Since it’s hand held I can get right amongst the bushes and rip out the grass with it.
I’m a bit fearful of the brambles and nettles though, the grass has a habit of whipping back on itself as you try to cut it, and goes right where my hands are. This is fine with grass, but being whacked on the hand with some nettles doesn’t seem like fun.
The bit between the fruit trees is too long to strim, and since I can’t see where the trees are amongst the grass it’s not safe to just stick the strimmer in and wave it around. I might cut my own leg off or damage the trees.
This part contains three rhubarb plants, can you see them? No? Me neither, I thought they’d died.
There’s also a lot of rubbish in here. I’m sure I’ll find that in the winter.
With some careful weeding it turns out the rhubarb are still there! Next year they should produce enough that I can harvest their stems.
To get in amongst the longer grass I need a bigger tool.
Something like this will work. Not sure how you get a large sharp object through the mail, but it’ll be fun finding out!
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://plot88.uk/2023/06/01/what-lurks-in-the-long-grass/