A cheeky visitor relieving tedious weeding and hoeing.

Thursday 11 May 2017 - and Friday and Saturday!
I came down to how some of the weeds off as they are getting much too big. I concentrated mainly along the path edges and made good progress. However I was interrupted by a cheeky blackbird that started picking over the ground I disturbed. I stopped working for a rest and he came closer and closer so I got my phone out to take a picture.
He got very close!

Eventually he got a huge beakfull and flew off to his nest and chicks. I carried on for a while and he came back but never came as close. 

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When I had finished hoeing the path edges I was able to sweep the path clear, making the whole plot look much tidier.

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The blackbird was still at it!
Having done quite a bit of hoeing and thinking that the rain that was forecast would undo my work if I tried hoeing the weeds in the beds I moved on to re-cover the carrots and parsnips with fleece I found in the shed. I also found more small wire hoops ideal for supporting the fleece.
That done I harvested a few asparagus spears, some leeks and a mixture of brassica sprouts.
The next two days were almost a repeat, though I managed to hoe some of the beds, especially the onions. They we easy to hoe as I had done them before but it is annoying the way you always miss those weeds growing closest to the plant. I finished up hand weeding then having to hoe out my footsteps again. Of course when it came to hoeing the rows of seedlings all you can hope to do is deal with the weeds between the rows, then laboriously hand weed the actual row. I left doing that until I get round to thinning the rows. I think I need to use the hoe just to create a tilth on the surface to retain the moisture in the soil and do weeding as a separate activity.

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