I'm glad I was able to garden the last few days before the rain sets in. It looks like the largest azaela is staying put for now although I did manage to clear away the grass that was growing through it.
I worked on clearing the applemint that was taking over the dietes and cut it back, using it for mulch around the rosemary, which now has a clear space. Hopefully the applemint will grow in the new spot and come back better next season where it was as it was growing leggy. Two tyres have come out which I may donate to Woodside. Three carex sedges are ringing the rosemary and hopefully the applemint cover will inhibit any creeping buttercup, which I have dug out and removed.
I was thinking while I was cutting back the applemint and how when people say 'I must cut back on spending' or eating sugar or any modern evil, well what happens is if you cut back plants it only means later it will grow back again more bushy. If you really want to give up or stop something, you have to pull it out by the roots! And then plant something to STOP it coming back. So I am very sceptical about people who always say 'I'm cutting back on alcohol' or whatever addiction because you just know it won't last...they might be alright for a while but then a few months down the line they binge eat or drink and then it's just as bad as before. If you really want weeds out of your lives, you must pull them out by their roots. Don't go the lazy way and just poison them, because poisons can kill the other plants and half the time it isn't effective anyway.
Don't put the noxious weeds in the compost either unless your compost is super hot, burn them or smother them, take them to the tip where they cannot escape. And then plant something better in the spot you have just weeded.
I've had to reprimand Dad who is of the 'cut weeds and leave them to grow back' type of gardener, doesn't really want to do the hard work of pulling them out by their roots, he dumps GOOD things in the trash, like potato peelings that could feed my worms and then dumps BAD things down the back of the creek. ?? Sigh. I can't always tell if he listens to me, like most people that are older than me have hearing problems and don't listen to anything I say. I can't be bothered yelling at my parents because maybe they just see my mouth opening and closing and sounds coming out, while pretending to listen by saying 'mm' 'oh, okay' and nodding and smiling. Then they just keep doing the exact opposite of what you told them.
Parents. Can't live with them, can't live without them.
