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| Just An Average Sized Dandelion Root Today |
At the beginning of last week patience had to be a virtue. Two consecutive days (Monday and Tuesday) without rain as I waited for the soil on my plots to dry out enough to resume the battle against the Dandelions on Plot N2. Finally on Wednesday the soil was just workable and mid morning I commenced clearing the fourth small bed on N2. The soil on the main central bed was still too wet to deal with. Although the soil was still fairly sticky, this gave me an advantage over the roots breaking into bits, as each fork full of soil was lifted. The soil stayed bonded together with moisture as I turned each lump over. I then teased out the roots from their bases upwards removing any soil still sticking to the roots, by hand. Quite a few smaller roots pulled away from the moist soil easily without breaking. By late afternoon I had progressed back along about 50% of the bed.
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| First of the Cabbages Transplanted |
I was back down the plot on Thursday morning but decided to clear the drainage ditch of decaying vegetation and debris cutting, back the weeds and dead vegetation from the banks at the same time. By the time this was completed, across the width of 2 plots, I had accumulated 5 well filled barrow loads of various vegetation and deposited it onto my compost heap. Having removed several items of rubbish from along the length of the ditch, along with a few tree branches and some brambles the water was flowing away more freely, thus helping to drain off the water from my plots. I decided to thin out some of my Cabbages, replanting them into this years Brassica bed. The first row of 9 was done by mid afternoon and I then, finally got round to removing the dead Runner bean plants from Plot N1. The viable beans for this years seeds had been removed some time ago. The canes used as supports were removed and stored in my shed. The area I have been using to grow the Runner beans, on the L-shape of the plot, is well laden with soot. Due to the vast amount of soot in the soil here it is relatively free draining and was dry enough for me to hoe it over removing various perennial weeds in about an hour.
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| First of the Daffodils Showing on the Drainage Bank |
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| Bluebells Showing on the Drainage Ditch Bank | |
Friday afternoon saw me back down the plot continuing the battle against the Dandelions on Plot N2. The surface of the soil was a little damp due to heavy overnight and early morning mist, but was drying out slowly. On Saturday, Sunday and this afternoon the digging continued and by four p.m. today. I had completed clearing the fourth bed of everything except soil. If the rain holds off, the main central bed on N2 should be dry enough to work on in the morning.
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| One side of N2 Plot Finally Cleared of Dandelions |
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| Can You Identify This (If I'm Correct it Devours Earthworms and Birds Don't Eat it) |
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| As Above Picture |
Just an update on the "BEASTIE" in the photographs. It is likely to be a Horse Leech (Haemopis sanguisuga). They can exist several meters from water and eat small snails and other invertebrates. The other possibility is a foreign imported species (Trocheta). Anyway I'm glad it wasn't a flat worm which I first thought. Leeches have gone up slightly in my estimation now I know they eat snails.
There's always tomorrow!!
