Ranunculus repens: oh blimey...

Was kept away from the plot through work and weather for a week, but got there yesterday evening to find three bags of guinea pig bedding, (mostly straw and saw dust) and a bag of florist's off-cuts waiting for me. I put these with the compost, and buried them as I turned them, so the new stuff is on the bottom.  Assuming that the guinea pigs and the florist continue as they have been, I'm going to have plenty of compost in due course, though I'll need to keep it turned to speed it up, else I'll have more compost heaps than I'll have room for.

Also noticed a lot of creeping buttercups, Ranunculus repens. Briefly, I hoped they might be beneficial weeds like comfrey or plantain. Alas, no, as this paper explains, (links to a pdf download), it really is a weed, with no discernible benefits except to pollinators, is a bugger to get rid of, and an invader of damp ground. I really need to get on top of this weed situation, and plan to get busy with the hoe and the burning cage over winter, and then hoeing little-often in the spring. Lots of mulching with the wood chips we get from the council, too.

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