 Access We started with a garden that had reverted to jungle due to neglect. Weeds and ivy had taken over the paths. Along one side of the house unpruned plum trees covered with Chinese fevervines and wisteria blocked passage. Bamboo had sent runners out into the middle of the front yard. We had to hack a path with machetes when we went out in the yard.After initially considering giving up and having the yard declared a wildlife preserve, we set about trying to restore some order. Having seen what happened when the garden was left untended, we designed a layout that would allow access to every section for weeding, pruning, and cleaning up. Weeds seem to grow faster and more vigorously than anything else and they're not choosy about location, so if you can't reach them they'll happily overrun entire sections of the garden in no time at all. Until we cleared the most overgrown corner, we were constantly battling vines that seemed to cover entire trees from one minute to the next. Dead leaves, rotting branches, and other debris covered the ground and the jungle was infested with spiders. As fast as we weeded one section, day flowers would busily take over another area. The plum trees had stretched over the wall, twisting into curlicue shapes as they tried to get more sun, so we moved them to locations that would permit easy pruning and access to the fruit. The center of the garden had become an inaccessible mass of lanky, intertwined trees and shrubs - we rearranged this section by moving the plants to spots where they would have more individual space and we could weed around them.  We designed the flower and herb beds so that every part was within arm's reach and could be easily weeded. We applied the same principle to the rest of the garden - the beds along the walls, for example, are less than a meter deep, so if any vines poke up we can immediately yank them out. We haven't been able to eradicate the day flowers, but now we can at least keep them in check.Every plan has its flaws and there are some spots where we could have left more space for a ladder or made the paths wider. Some of our mature trees are either too tall (the pine, for one) or in locations that make trimming difficult - leaving space for pruning was not a high priority for our new neighbors who built their house right to the edge of the property line and then started complaining about the fragrant olive's overhanging branches. Considering the jungle we started with, however life is much easier now that most sections are accessible. |