Homegrown

My latest crop is coming along nicely. Looking forward to puffing on that lot.



Eh no. Here is the invasive non-native Himalayan Balsam plant which thrives in the shady woodland up the hill. An awful plant, thankfully not dangerous, it creates a canopy of leaves a metre above the forest floor stopping the regeneration of the trees and native species. After flowering, it’s seed pods explode when disturbed by wind or passing fauna to spread up to 4metres. Without control they very quickly overwhelm the landscape. Unfortunately the ‘control’ is very labour intensive and requires individual plants being pulled with their root intact, not just chopped. Most of my walks up there in June have included removal of a few.

In the lower left you can maybe see some of the poor natives being crowded out.