​More rotavating!

Sunday 6th November
As last week I decided to start my Sunday morning visit by doing some rotavating for the Association. A near neighbour of mine who took on the plot a month or so back, has been labouring away removing the grass and weeds. He asked that the cleared ground be rotavated last week and paid his 'donation' in at the Trading Hut. He had done such a good job that the machine coped well and left a lovely tilth. There were some patches where the underlying soil was so compacted that I couldn't get the times very deep and there were lots of couch grass and bindweed roots but they were left mostly on the surface. It certainly looks easier to work with and John Bachelor has lent him a huge tarpaulin to cover over the ground he wants to leave fallow for the time being.
Having done that, and enjoyed my coffee and cake, I returned to my plot and rotavated a couple of small patches to mix in the compost I had spread. That meant I could plant some more winter onions and shallots. I put in half a row of home grown large 'Grizelle' shallots, a row of similar but very small 'Escallote Grise', and a row of bought in 'Radar' onions.

​Then, before going home for lunch, there was just time to harvest some fennel, two for a nearby plotter and one for home, pick some curly kale, banging it to remove the whitefly, and the last dregs of raspberries. I also sprinkled a little more paraffin on the emerging pea seedlings to deter the mice - it seems to work but has to be done frequently.
Cleaning up the Brussel Sprouts and kale in the second brassica tunnel will have to wait until next time.