Meticulously the removal of the myriad of Dandelions continues on the center bed of my new plot. Monday and Tuesday of last week were wet and rainy so the war against the weeds was delayed yet again. Wednesday was sunny but cold along with Thursday. A fresh wind was drying out the soil by Thursday afternoon, helping the soil to break up more quickly as I continued digging. The rain returned on Friday, making the soil too wet to do much digging on Saturday morning which I spent moving the remaining items of my gardening equipment from my old 2nd plot to the new one. On completion of this some time was spent tidying up the shed on my new plot, installing various hooks and a potting bench in one corner of the shed. I have now officially handed back my old 2nd plot to our site representative. I understand that the plot will be split into 2 halves for letting out to the next 2 tenants. One of the main complaints I've heard, in the past, from new tenants is about the untidy conditions of the plots they are taking over. Well at least I've left mine in good order, apart from mowing the grass surrounding the plot.
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| How My Old 2nd Plot Looked Today |
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| Top End of Old 2nd Plot Sown with Mustard to Keep the Weeds Down |
Sunday, Monday and today have seen dry, cold weather with a few sunny spells. This has enabled me to carry on digging up the Dandelions. As the work was going too slowly for my liking, due to the vast amount of small Dandelions smothering the grounds surface, I decided to remove, not only the Dandelions, individually, but also a few inches of soil with each batch of roots. This method sped things up considerably, yesterday and today. Although the larger Dandelion plants have been easier to remove than the smaller ones, many are rooted well into the sub-soil, so by the time the bed has been cleared of weeds it will have been well and truly "double dug". In fact late this afternoon a chap from the antipodes popped his head up out of the soil to say hi?
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| Just 2 Forkfuls of Dandelion Roots |
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| The Root of the Problem? |
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| Halfway There |
More rain is forecast for this area tonight and for the next few days so more digging looks like being out of the question until at least this coming weekend. It looks like a good opportunity to do some work inside my shed cleaning tools, pots and trays.
Your plot is looking immaculate well done with your perserverance on getting properly rid of all the dandelions it is so hard to get all the root out, when I do it they always snap off and return healthier than ever.
ReplyDeleteThanks Elaine, your right about the roots snapping off, repeatedly bending down to retrieve the broken pieces is annoying. The frequent heavy rain showers again this week has slowed things down again too.
ReplyDeleteI must say new plot holders maybe would last a bit longer if they had, had to clear the sort of plots we took over - head high in brambles etc with all sorts of debris eg. television aerials, shopping trolleys, disintegrating carpets etc to remove. It certainly makes you treasure your plot.
ReplyDeleteHello Sue, yes your right about treasuring your plot. I've cleared a couple of neglected ones in the past few years. I think that all tenants leaving behind neglected plots should be fined by the council. Unless of course there are extenuating circumstances for doing so.
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