RKayne's Blog

The extra veggie space
Feb 10, 2008 | 9:20 AM PST
Tags: blackberry , rosemary , sage , thyme , parsley , coffee grounds , preparing soil , yellowjackets

Last year, when I moved it, I started reclaiming the section of 'gardening space' next to the house. These were fallow sections, with an odd assortment of flower bulbs that were in weird places and a lot of grass. I could barely see the walkway between the two raised beds. Granted, this is a rental house but how could I possibly NOT use them?

So, at the end of these beds was a HUGE nasty, mean and thoroughly entrenched blackberry, one of the sorts that makes you understand why they are the bane of the PNW. I figured, go ahead and clear what I could and then cut it back, at the very least. No way, there *is* also a nest of yellowjackets, who knows how long they have been there!

Being the organic gardener I am, and having turned rather a bit of the soil already and seeing all the 'wonderful' (note sarcasm) grubs that were here and there...I had an odd idea. I left the yellowjackets alone! They eat grubs so we had an understanding, I leave you alone, you leave me alone :D That worked out great, I think there was only one time I went around the corner and thought, hey...not today...not going in there! Otherwise, we were out there all the time so it balanced well and I didn't have to go through the trouble of wiping out an entire colony, haha. I know...yellowjackets, and ground ones at that, the kind that if it stung my Mom, she would be dead...but still, didn't want to kill them, especially since they were such a help in the end.

I know they are still there, but they are hibernating so I went ahead and did the clearing. I really don't know exactly were they are, I am not sure they are actually in the garden itself but maybe in some bushes that are very thick at the end, which is actually the top of a rockery beside our very steep and very narrow (pretty much the Seattle norm) driveway. Guess we will find out when it warms up! I really need to take pics, still have one somewhere I can dig up to show where I stopped digging last year.

So, cutting that blackberry, I started cutting sections and tossing them back in the yard waste...and cutting...and cutting. The grass was long enough that when it died out for winter there were a couple sections that I just pulled it up with NO weeds below. Of course where there were weeds they were seriously there, and then the bulb thing. Shouldn't you have a rhyme or reason to placement? No...that was what whoever had put these in thought :D

The best thing was, in the corner I *think* the yellowjackets might be, under that blackberry from Hades...was a 2-3 foot tall Rosemary. Healthy, happy...and I had a chicken in the fridge so I went out to get some rosemary, thyme and a handful of parsley and stuffed them all into the chicken. So, lot of work, but immediate benefits. I will try to get some pics later, it has been raining pretty much ever since I was out there (started sprinkling while I was still out there but needed coffee grounds!).