Lily pads removal

Now that’s a lot of lilies!

Moving into the autumn months we began work to the final area of the lake that had been left un-touched until now. It had become a vast network of lily roots and weed beds during the last 100 years, so we had our work cut out!

Before…

The weed beds cannot be tackled until the lily pads roots are first removed as the weed rake cannot be pulled through the rhizome roots. We were lucky with the weather as it had remained nice and sunny and the water was warm. Wet suits and waders were donned and we began to remove the lily roots.

This is done by physically pulling the root off the bottom of the lake and where the weed was so thick in places just getting down to the bottom was exhausting enough as you have to fight your way through it. Then as you come back to the surface with your root you emerge as a weed monster!

All good fun and definitely worth the reward, the difference the work has made to the lake. In all we removed 6 tipper trucks stacked high with lily roots which took us a week.

The week after we started the weeding work. I was in two minds whether to do this job or not as the weed would shortly be dying back but from past experience I know that when I come to do the job next year in 2012 I will be at lot easier and less thick. So it was done!

After…

The lake now looked fantastic so we decided we wanted to open more of the bankside up which was also quite overgrown in this area. All the nettles, brambles shrubs and trees were cut down and cleared and replaced with new flower beds and water plants which I hope will flourish next year.

I think in all we spent 3 weeks on this project but what a difference!