Busy Weed-kend on the Plot

Today was productive. Very productive! With my husband’s help, we managed to clear most of the plot of weeds. The sunshine and rain over the past two weeks has meant the weeds have gone berserk. I armed my husband with the WolfGarten soil tiller and left him with instructions to clear the weeds on our plot while I walked across to Geoff’s plot to weed the paths and raised beds.

I was soon completely emersed in weeding, clearing multiple bucketfuls of weeds. The paths between the beds began to reappear so I moved onto clearing the beds. The potato bed I left for another day. Bit by bit, the bed reappeared and as I worked, I wondered what to plant where. As per usual, I had forgotten to label the plants in the greenhouse, so planting would require considerable guesswork. Fortunately, I remembered what I had planted where in Geoff’s raised beds last year so all I had to do was make sure I put different plants in.

By the time I had finished clearing the raised beds, my husband called me over to our plot to show me what he had done. It was very impressive! All but two sections were cleared of weeds and neatly tilled ready for plants. Worn out after his exertions, he headed home leaving me to put in the plants. In the end, I decided to put the different kales (purple, scarlet and white), garlic and broad beans in the bed with the elephant garlic we planted several weeks ago. That left the bed with the chard for other things.

Rummaging through the plants in the greenhouse, I grabbed the tray of courgettes and planted them in the bottom section of the plot opposite the bog garden. If they all survive, we are going to be drowning in them! Moving in, I planted the butternut squash and pumpkins in the next bed and the left over one in with the potatoes.

Now for the difficult bit. How to train the peas and climbing beans without any bamboo poles? Pondering my options, I was struck with inspiration. On one side of the plot, I had stored three ancient hoes. Grabbing two and some rope, I built a little frame and planted the climbing beans around it. Granted, it could have been taller, but I think it looks rather good! For the peas, which by some miracle have actually grown, I used the bamboo arches and planted the peas after carefully untangling them!

My final job was putting in the dwarf french beans. For some reason, we only had five plants so tomorrow, I will put in some more. With all the plants in, there wasn’t much room left on the plot. The beds that look weedy actually are full of potatoes although they will need to grow quite a bit before they can be distinguished from the weeds! Before I left, I gave everything a thorough watering in the hopes everything will survive.

The chickens were all busy scratching and enjoying the fresh air. Without Roxy, the Little Weed Destroyers seem quiet and poor Foxy seems quite lost without her. I’ll have to keep an eye out for a little companion for them over the next couple of weeks. As for the rest of the week, my challenge is to remember to water all the plants!