I’ve been putting it off and off but it can wait no more.  The thistles are growing at a rapid rate and starting to overtake some of the smaller trees in height.  It was time to thistle harvest again.

We did this first in May to clear the dead thistles off the top soil mound that was due to be spread around.  You can read about that adventure by clicking here.  That thistle harvest was an altogether different proposition to this one. 

For a start the thistles are still living.  In fact thriving in all the rain and sunshine we’ve been having.  This makes them pricklier, taller and altogether not as much fun to deal with.  But with my rugged I am tough head on I set to with the fork wearing my big gorse clearing gloves.

I didn’t bother with any of those celebratory before pictures since I knew that the efforts of a couple of hours were going to do nothing, and I mean nothing, to dent the thistle patch we’ve got to clear.  It’s more like making a dimple you can hardly see.

The first priority was to release the small trees from the light, water and soil sucking thistles so that’s where I started. You’ll have to look real close on these pictures to make them out or trust me that there are trees and were thistles there!

Can you count the four trees here?

Same patch, different direction

There are three little trees staked in the middle here

It’s not easy to see where the hard work was done.  Sigh……

Fruits of my thistle harvest labours

Can you tell how delighted I am about my pile of thistles?

I am delighted about the fruit trees that are really starting to flourish

And for the finale, the bassets seem to be following the similar pattern of their efforts to thistle harvesting as before.

And a little more interest.  Oh, no that was because dinner was being called!