Snailhouse Rock

Miss D had a task of epic proportions, sitting in what was possibly once upon a time a garden. Daniel did the introductions, and Miss D nervously led us round to the side gate, which once opened, let us in on the size of the job we were taking on.

On a snail of one to ten, how much of a challenge do you like on your gardening missions? This was going to take some doing. If it was supposed to be a field of wildflowers, it would have been perfect. However, it was a garden, which Miss D wanted to be able to use, to sit in and have a coffee outside. At the moment, you couldn’t even walk the metre or so between the gate and the side door without knee high greenery tickling your legs.

‘It’s a challenge we’ll accept’, Daniel said with a relish. It was going to be one on a snail of epic proportions, and we got to work.

We started with a bit of manual weeding, and were surprised to find a concrete pathway paving the way between the gate and the door hiding beneath years worth of weed. That wasn’t the only surprise. There were also a lot of snails. A LOT of snails. Anyone who knows me, knows I don’t deal with snails very well. GoodGym had been my slow exposure therapy, however today we went straight in for the plunge. I was very molluscky that Daniel was around, as he did a fantastic job of saving me from the hundreds of shelled beasts! I was also very brave, and if one of them popped up between the leaves or roots, Daniel was on hand to rescue me. So thanks Daniel!

We had soon cleared a bit of a pathway, and Daniel moved on to attacking the rest of the wild meadow, trimming down the plants to a more manageable length. We also realised that there was a whole load of garden behind the house that we couldn’t even see before, as we couldn’t get around the back to see.

I was rooting for him to clear the garden. I was also rooting myself, having found a hoe, I was pulling up long worm-like roots and weeds, and tearing down ivy. All of this whilst not crying over the snails.

We had completely lost track of time - and before we knew it, we had been working away for over two hours!! They say time flies when you’re having fun, it certainly flies when you’re not even close to being done!

There was still a lot to be done, even with seven bags of weeds cleared! But we had made an incredible difference already - mainly because Miss D could actually use the pathway to outside now! She was overwhelmed, and her dream of being able to spend time outside again was nearing a reality. We would have loved to have stayed, but we both had other important things that afternoon - Daniel was getting his covid vaccine, and I had a massage booked in (well needed after all that snail avoiding). Weed done good. Until next time, Miss D’s garden!