H did not get back until mid-morning Sunday. I was already at the lottie. The morning was cool but sunny. I had this idea that I was going to dig over the bottom end of Bed4. This area is to have the Sweet Corn and Pumpkins. I had a brought along a full tray of Cauliflower and one of Onion [Golden Bear] to plant out in Bed1. Bed 2 is this years cabbage patch. Six weeks or more I had planted out the top third of the bed with Spelt wheat. Not a single seed germinated. The bed is full of weeds. The middle third of the bed was covered with black plastic which has encouraged the renegade spuds left over from last years harvest. I could not plant the Cauli's without cleaning up the weeds. I set about it with a will. The rain that fell during the week has loosened the soil so the weeds came out fairly easily, three very full wheelbarrow loads of weeds. It is a pity the edible plants do not grow as easily and as verdant as the weeds.
Whilst weeding I came across something I have been dreading.......Mare's Tail. There is lots of it in the district but up to now we have been clear of it. The Mare's Tail seems to have come in with last year's landscaping of the NFL bagging plant adjacent to the lottie site. There is only one way to deal with it and that is accept that you cannot get rid of it only check it. I dug deeply and pulled out everything I could find. The roots I dug out were dropped in a bucket of water. A couple of weeks in there are and it will be very dead. Steve rocked up in his Landy sporting a monumental hangover. He was celebrating with his in-law's wedding anniversary the night before. Apparently the homemade Lemoncello was got out....very messy. We had a sit on the bench at the top of the plot. We chatted about allotment business, Mare's Tail and a bit bit about each other's work. Steve thought I should write a book about my point of view on business - The McDowell Manifesto. I might do it!
Steve decided to do some work. I went back to weeding. Having finished weeding I prepared the seed bed in the usual way, raking, treading, raking and treading some more. I aways thought the soil of a seed bed had to be light a fluffy. That is not the case for Brassicas. Cabbage family plants like a rock hard footing. I planted out my thirty Cauli's. Then thought about the Golden Bear. I had a place reserved in Bed1 for the onions. As you might imagine nothing could be done before a good dose of weeding had taken place. Weeding done and onions separated from the seed tray I dibbed a hole for each onion in turn.........fifty odd of them and planted them. Then it was just a case watering everything. I took the shears to the long grass and Thistles growing in the path next to Bed 2. Time was marching on: I did a bit weeding on the Asparagus bed. I harvested a couple of Asparagus spears whilst I was at it. I bagged a couple of stalks of Rhubarb. I tidied up the compost heap. Loaded up Degsy and went home.
Not much happened for the remainder of the afternoon. Just a bit of snoozing and watching the F1 which I missed because I was snoozing.
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