Bank holiday gardening

The weather for gardening has been rubbish but in between the shower/sun/rain/sun sandwiches, there's been enough of everything for the weeds to get a crack on.

The striped things are what I'm out to get rid of - this is the asparagus-like, spore-throwing phase of Mare's Tail. (Sometimes horse tail, always annoying.) A prehistoric plant apparently growing down to 3meters in some places. It's all over the district.

Like all weeds, if it just looked nice I'd leave it! But it's horrible and goes on to look a bit like Ferns - and in the mature fern-like state, I am allergic. I'm coughing away just now after about an hour of carefully taking them out, trying not to make them sneeze all over the place, I'm beginning to think that I am allergic to this phase too.

Rain came on. I came in. Long enough for a first foray into the weeds this season...