Raspberries Everywhere!

After lunch I headed down to the plot determined to continue making good progress on the weeds. I started by grabbing the secateurs, weed bucket and knee pad and wandered over to Geoff’s plot. I felt dreadful as I surveyed the jungle of weeds. You could barely see the paths between the raised beds. I began clearing the path by the largest bed – a mere foot in, I had already  filled the weed bucket! Several full buckets later, I had made it to the end of the path, turned around and worked my way through the weeds in the bed. Pleased with my progress, I moved onto the strawberry bed. Here I had more success, with the added bonus of being able to eat a handful of them as I worked my way along the bed.

The raspberry bed was a completely different kettle of fish. The canes had self-seeded in gaps and in the path. Armed with the secateurs, I worked slowly through them. Any pruned branches which had raspberries on didn’t go to waste, these were subject to thorough quality testing. A large amount of pruning with the secateurs and careful weeding between the slabs and I finally managed to clear the path entirely.

A number of over-ripe raspberries fell on the path, painting the slabs pink as well as my shoes!

By the time I was halfway through weeding the third bed, my husband appeared. I set him off hoeing our plot, removing the weeds from our beds ready to transfer the plants in the greenhouse. After about an hour, he’d managed to clear four beds which was spectacular. With those clear, we only had the remaining three to go later this week. Always assuming the weather holds…

Our final task was to check on the chickens. All of whom have been laying regularly for a few weeks now. Clearly they are enjoying the longer, warmer days! Tired, full of raspberries and covered in dirt, we headed home.