Ceasefire (But Still Digging Part 5)!!

Saturday Evenings Sky Over the Plot

 The battle against the Dandelions on the central bed of my new plot was put on hold last week, mainly due to 2 factors. The first being misty damp weather making the soil just a bit too sticky to work with, using a garden fork or spade. The second reason was that my main plot was being neglected in favour of the new plot, over the last four weeks. Having "Hamassed" approximately 140 hours digging over the new plot recently I decided it "Israelly" time to finish preparing my main plot for next year, before the Winter weather takes a turn for the worse, so a standoff was implemented and the ground forces moved to the main plot.

Next Years Brassica Bed Dug and Weeded 6 Barrow Loads of Compost Added

 Last Tuesday was spent digging over this years roots bed, removing 2 part rows of unusable carrots and a few annual weeds. The soil over most of my main plot is far more "workable" than that of my new plot, despite the overnight foggy and misty weather of late. Having completed this bed I then cleared out my old compost bin, depositing 6 barrow loads of well rotted compost onto the recently dug bed to be used for next years Brassicas, keeping the compost away from the Senshyu Onions growing along the top edge of the bed.

Old Compost Bin Almost Empty

New Compost Bin Full Already

This Years Roots Bed Weeded and Dug Leaving Leeks in Situ

 With 3 out of 4 of my beds now ready for next season, on Wednesday I decided to turn over the soil on the L-shaped bed at the lower end of my plot. The 3 Rhubarb plants growing in this bed were manured and earthed up first. Working down the slope I turned the soil, down to a depth of 1 spit, removing weeds, fallen leaves, from the nearby trees, and any other unwanted debris as I progressed. By Wednesday evening I had reached the lower end of the slope with the "foot" of the L-shape to be completed. On Thursday digging along the bed continued at a slower pace, as I needed to remove lots of roots left behind from the 4 Goji Trees I removed from this area, earlier this year. My main Blackberry plant, protected by 2 car tyres, was secured to a nearby fencing panel and 3 other, badly situated, Blackberry plants were moved and re-planted in front of the same fence panel.

Side of L-shape Bed Dug and Weeded

Base of L-shape Almost Finished

Blackberry Plant Protected by Tyres

Raspberry Canes Pruned Back (This Bed Still To Be Weeded)

Blackcurrant Bed Still To Be Weeded and Bushes Pruned (Bushes Are Well in Bud Already)

     It was a misty damp day on Friday with extremely heavy rain on Friday evening, my next visit to the plot was on Saturday afternoon. The beds were too damp for any digging, so a few tidying up jobs were done and I pruned back the Raspberry canes on my main plot, moved a couple frogs, which were hibernating amongst the mulch around the Raspberry plants, taking them to the sanctuary of the drainage ditch at the bottom of my plot and consigned the Raspberry canes to the new compost heap/bin minus any frogs.

Strawberry/Gooseberry Bed Remains Weed Free

  On Sunday I carried on with the digging from where I left off on Thursday, removing more Goji roots and annual weeds. Todays' weather was damp and overcast with a few showers, but not serious enough to stop the digging process. Hopefully the L-shape will be finished by tomorrow evening, although the rain is back again at the moment.

Brussels for Christmas (This years Brassica Bed to Be Tidied Up After The Brussels Are Picked)

Spring Cabbages for Transplanting Later On