Late entry for last week!

​As I was going away for the weekend again on Thursday I felt I had to deal with the weeds that had taken over the far end of my plot. For once it did not involve weeding as they were so large and well rooted and the soil so dry and hard, all I could do for the most part was cut them down! There was so much buried equipment in amongst the jungle that I had to get out my trusty bill hook. Using it is a skill I learned fifty years ago doing a summer holiday job cutting the grass for Stevenage council before the days of strimmers. By keeping it sharp with a file I can use it to cut large areas or to work in confined spaces. Nevertheless it took over an hour to dispose of the jungle with five barrow loads of growth going onto the compost. There are rather too many seed heads in it for my liking but I had nowhere to burn it and no time to take it to the tip.

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Then I turned my attention to my peas. They had filled the net tunnel I had over the row, together with bundles of chick weed. It was a long job teasing out the weeds before staking the row with twigs. The first row of peas, that are almost ready to harvest, have been protected from the pigeons by netting but the birch twigs will keep then off this row, I hope.
A neighbour mentioned that wind was forecast for Saturday so I quickly staked out my last row of broad beans using the poles from my broken set of drain rods, just enough with ten bright red plastic poles! I also finally solved how to tie the strings between the stakes with minimal knotting and duplication of runs between stakes.
Finally I harvested a large handful of strawberries, the first of the season, after watering those plants wilting after being disturbed when I weeded the patch on my last visit.
Then I could go off to my weekend wedding with a clear conscience.