Figuring out the land

It has, frankly, been a terrible year for my garden. After a rather successful first year in the veggie patch and a generally happy first year on the rest of my new plot, much of this was down to the diligence of the previous owners and had very little to do with my own efforts. But, it would seem, a second year is the proof of the pudding.
Not that the weather has helped in any way. The long cold winter of 2017-2018 turned into a baking summer where all my rain barrels turned dry. While this was brilliant for my apple crop and for the hordes of wasps that invaded, it wasn't so good for anything else.
 Crops that grew successfully in 2017 have failed completely this year and I have really had to up my game.  As autumn has closed, I have green-manured my veg patch, but I have yet to dig out my failed potato crop. The general advice seems to be to do this to stop any potential spread of disease - but no, I haven't done this yet...
On top of the wild weather, I found my garden invaded by ground elder. `Oh yes,' said my neighbour,' the ground elder arrived about 30 years ago in a load of top soil'.
Oh.
Ground elder is ridiculously impossible to get rid of. With a seething network of underground roots, the only answer seems to be to dig and dig and dig. But when it has taken root under the raspberries and grape-vine, the battle seems unwinnable...
I do have a strategy for next year and that is to try and dig it out nowish...if I could get myself to go out in the rain!
Far more concerning has been the death of a flowering cherry in the far corner of my front garden. It has been ailing since we bought the property, but has properly died now. Its leaves have curled up and it looks very grim indeed. My neighbours cheery response that it was honey fungus, a conclusion shared by my friend, the garden guru. If it is, the outlook is very grim indeed. Honey fungus is a deeply destructive underground fungus that attacks roots. The garden guru seemed certain, but there is an absence of peeling bark at the base, so I remain unconvinced. I think the most likely culprit is brown rot. But that might be a learning curve too. So cue cutting off all the dead/diseased bits and back to square one. (When it is not wet and cold...)
So my garden provides me with plenty to do and I have to admit - although clearly rubbish at the task, I love it!
And I love being in the country(ish). There is nothing that can match up to a walk across the fields, to the satisfaction of a home-grown apple and to the sheer joy of an autumn sunrise Love it!