Finishing the preparation of the brassica bed

Friday 6th April
I arrived at the plot with a trailer full of garden waste. A few of the bags were mine but most were from my neighbour across the road. Some was suitable for the compost bin but some were destined for the tip.
I decided it was better to start with the heaviest job, digging over the rest of the brassica bed.
I had just finished digging the initial trench, loading the soil into the barrow and picking out the few bindweed roots, when I realised that I had left my support belt at home. I just hoped to dig as much as I could before my back showed the strain. However I was using my Backsaver spade and set about digging. It was noticeable where the rows of pea plants had been growing as the soil was softer and more crumbly whereas the strips in between were considerably more solid and compacted. Surprisingly I soon found myself digging the last spit next to the path having had to strip off to my shirtsleeves. It took just a moment to empty the barrow into the remaining trench next to the path but I had to remove a length of bindweed root as I did it. One of the hazards of moving soil round the plot.
I will cultivate the bed to remove the large lumps and tread it back down ready for the brassicas which, fortunately, are only tiny seedlings in the greenhouse at the moment so I have some time to do it.
In returning the barrow to storage I noticed that the groundsel was just about to seed - and there was quite a bit of it - and there were a few dandelion flowers as well!
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The dandelion is obvious!
The groundsel in the foreground is just in flower but the at the top of the picture there is the first groundsel seedhead!
Elsewhere the groundsel was thick with flower.

It took me some time to hoe the bulk of the weeds growing in various patches along the path and by the gate and I dare not leave the dying plants as they continue to seed even after being uprooted. It isn't even safe to compost groundsel when it gets to the flowering stage so the heap I had gathered was dumped in a bag headed for the tip!
I emptied several bags and trugs full of garden waste into the compost bin and sorted the rubbish headed for the tip before harvesting a large amount of purple sprouting broccoli that I daren't leave to go over. I also cut the top off a Brussel Sprout plant with a large number of sprouts still attached to take home on the stalk. With the recent rain the top sprouts are beginning to blow so they need to be eaten! They will last longer stored on the stalk, I hope!
On the way out I collected more bags of rubbish from by the new cabin left over from the work being done to it, filling my trailer for the journey to the tip.

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