France in Focus

A peaceful autumn garden isn't it? Don't judge by external appearances, elsewhere an ongong battle against the brambles. Snakes however seem lo like them, shedding their old skin.

Yikes! At least some critters can benefit from brambles!

We like the blackberries, and kept under control, brambles make a useful hedge (and more cover for lots of little beasties), but oh, doesn't it grow?!! I fear we will eventually disappear under a sea of bracken and brambles if we're not careful!

All those fallen leaves will be taken in by the worms - great for the soil !
Bracken can be a nightmare : one of the oldest carboniferous plants and very difficult to eradicate. It will quickly reclaim fields or areas that are not cleared regularly.
And bracken harbours ticks .....

Blaze wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 9:27 am
Bracken can be a nightmare : one of the oldest carboniferous plants and very difficult to eradicate. It will quickly reclaim fields or areas that are not cleared regularly.
And bracken harbours ticks .....

Yes, bracken is a problem here, but most of it grows on the side of a hill that's just too dangerous to deal with. Other areas get beaten back by the topper and other means. I threw hundreds of acorns across the hill last year, hoping that maybe just a dozen or so would stand a chance of taking root! I'll do the same this year - somebody may thank me in 20 years' time!

(Sorry, digressing from brambles - still starts with a "br"!)

Bayleaf wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 10:49 am I threw hundreds of acorns across the hill last year,

We met a couple of people last week who go regularly to the same campsite as us and they scatter all their seeds and pips around them. They had some courgettes coming up behind their caravan from seeds they'd planted earlier in the year !!
I do the same as you with apple cores, wild flower and maritime pine seeds !!