Gardening and weeds

Farway

the_pink_panther_2 said:

 I think in general you do have to be looking for the brambles to see it's there - it's there, but fairly discretely so I think and it's so blown out of proportion.  It is silly because her driveway is a wide shared driveway and it isn't really true that she's forced to drive down her driveway scraping along the hedge and brambles anyway, it's just all so completely bizarre and lacks common sense and it just isn't how I'd perceived her in the years I've known her.

You know her better than us, but this sort of behaviour and perceived problems does sound a bit like my late mother's behaviour as dementia crept up on her

Just saying

the_pink_panther_2

@Farway interesting that you'd say that, because that was a thought that crossed my mind on the day she said it.  She's in her mid 50's and lost her mum to dementia last year, but also when I think about it, she's been telling me for years that her dad 'never listens to reason' (her reasons) and 'won't be told' (I totally understand his perspective now), her sister (nor any other family for that matter) has never visited in the 10 years I've known her and she's always complaining about her, and when I think about it, over the years she's complained about a fair number of neighbours for one reason or another and I can't think of one reason which to me wasn't trivial really, so equally I think she is also routinely difficult, but till now I'd never fallen on the wrong side of it so never really fully appreciated it.   I do think you made a really valid point @Farway as the suggestion to get a gardener to dig out all the runners and roots from under the very hard soil, which runs between the hedge roots etc did strike me as potentially a sign of something along dementia lines - I  I've never heard her say anything quite along those lines before.

twopenny

I've been useing SBK to kill brambles for years. Used to have a big garden and big hedge. Now I have a new one with major established brambles.

If you deal with the bramble - mix with engine oil in a small jar and have a small paint brush. Cut the bramble as near the ground as you can (even 2ft or so) and use the secateurs to chop at the cut end if you can, otherwise a slanting cut. Paint the SBK onto the newly cut branch.

It will kill the bramble and not affect the hedge.

Not often but sometimes if it's a huge root it will sprout again but another treatment will do it. I'm now bramble free .

the_pink_panther_2

thanks @twopenny, that's really useful advice.  I was a bit worried the SBK could kill the hedge if I wasn't careful enough but so far I can't see I've harmed anything I hadn't wanted to, I don't think I've done enough to kill all the brambles yet, though some are looking more yellowed than before.  What's the purpose of the engine oil? I haven't read of that before.

Davesnave

Engine oil is just a gooey carrier to make the SBK stick. You could be more environmentally friendly and use cooking oil!

the_pink_panther_2

@Davesnave brilliant, thanks  - I don't have engine oil at home, but I do have cooking oil, which makes it easier .  

Farway

the_pink_panther_2 said:

@Farway interesting that you'd say that, because that was a thought that crossed my mind on the day she said it.  She's in her mid 50's and lost her mum to dementia last year, but also when I think about it, she's been telling me for years that her dad 'never listens to reason' (her reasons) and 'won't be told' (I totally understand his perspective now), her sister (nor any other family for that matter) has never visited in the 10 years I've known her and she's always complaining about her, and when I think about it, over the years she's complained about a fair number of neighbours for one reason or another and I can't think of one reason which to me wasn't trivial really, so equally I think she is also routinely difficult, but till now I'd never fallen on the wrong side of it so never really fully appreciated it.   I do think you made a really valid point @Farway as the suggestion to get a gardener to dig out all the runners and roots from under the very hard soil, which runs between the hedge roots etc did strike me as potentially a sign of something along dementia lines - I  I've never heard her say anything quite along those lines before.

Next up is you creeping in & stealing her tea bags, trust me on this

Silvertabby

Farway said:

the_pink_panther_2 said:

@Farway interesting that you'd say that, because that was a thought that crossed my mind on the day she said it.  She's in her mid 50's and lost her mum to dementia last year, but also when I think about it, she's been telling me for years that her dad 'never listens to reason' (her reasons) and 'won't be told' (I totally understand his perspective now), her sister (nor any other family for that matter) has never visited in the 10 years I've known her and she's always complaining about her, and when I think about it, over the years she's complained about a fair number of neighbours for one reason or another and I can't think of one reason which to me wasn't trivial really, so equally I think she is also routinely difficult, but till now I'd never fallen on the wrong side of it so never really fully appreciated it.   I do think you made a really valid point @Farway as the suggestion to get a gardener to dig out all the runners and roots from under the very hard soil, which runs between the hedge roots etc did strike me as potentially a sign of something along dementia lines - I  I've never heard her say anything quite along those lines before.

Next up is you creeping in & stealing her tea bags, trust me on this

The elderly lady who lived next to my parents rang the police to complain that my mum and dad had sneaked into her garden to dig up her sunflowers and replant them so the flower heads pointed towards their garden, leaving her with just the view of the backs of the blooms.

I don't think she believed the young bobby who told her that sunflowers turn towards the light, because she kept up this complaint right up until she moved to a nursing home.

Stealing her pansies was another compaint.  Another neighbour explained that mum and dad's pansies had grown from her seeds, which had been blown by the wind - but, to her, her seeds = her plants and she wanted dad to dig them up and replant them in her garden.  

the_pink_panther_2

My gran went that way, unfortunately - went from an energetic, charismatic lady -  everything felt exciting in her company and it sadly changed her, she still has that cheekiness about her and can't be without her cup of tea,  I hope people remember her best for how she was before.