Trimming the Pathways, Again

It was the first time in ages that I ventured into the more bushy overgrown areas of my garden. The fynbos garden overgrows itself so quickly, and with the rains coming soon, it was time to cut the pathways open again. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about cutting open the pathways, and it was time to do this again.

It looks so nice; the stark contrast between the green and the brown pathway. It is inherently a violent act. Cutting the plants always hurt me, I do not like it, but the pathways was overgrown for a couple of months now.

But as someone said to me once, everything you cut will grow back. This september bossie (Polygala myrtifolia) lost a couple of branches when we had bad weather with gusty winds. But in the three weeks since the winds, it has grown back with brute force. Even some of the plants I cut in the previous pathway cleanup are growing back:

It is amazing how nature just grows back. We can cut away, but she will come back.

With all of the pathways cleaned up, I had so much new material for my compost. It is such a hungry beast, I can never keep up with the feeding.

Across the new compost heap, the old one is "fermenting" away. Have you ever experienced the heat coming from a compost heap? I burnt my fingers making this video! Check the steam coming from it:

But not all the pathways could be saved. I needed to cut some of them off because the plants just grew too thick. It was also too pretty to cut. I did not want to hack away when the plants established themselves over the pathway.

But in the end, it is all about keeping things the way nature wants it. We can keep the pathways open, but the plants will grow where they want to grow. The garden is a living artwork. It is constantly moving and breathing, it will never just be static. It is always dynamic and growing.