I am going to jump over task number four on the list in favour of task five. I can justify it like this – Number four is to enrich the onion bed and get it all ready for them to move into, but I have to face facts – they aren’t ready for it yet they are still too little. Besides I have weeded the bed, so all it needs is quick fluff up and goodness added. It can wait.
I still feel a little nervous about my decision to delay starting this crop as I have never been this late with them before. In fact I’ve never been late with them before. But if you look at the grand scheme of things, this time in six months we would have only just got back from holidays and I would be facing a huge mountain of washing and unpacking and getting into the swing of the new year. So harvesting onions and garlic wouldn’t be on my mind at all.
I sowed the seeds almost five weeks ago and the packet says plant out in six – eight weeks, so as long as they are out before the end of July things will be ok. I hope.
So you can see – enriching their bed isn’t the highest of priorities, however taking one look at the raspberries and strawberries will tell you instantly that their place near the top of the list is justified. There was only one thing for it – to bump them up the list.
Armed with warm clothes and all my best weeding implements I set about the first stage of sorting out the raspberries: Finding them. There were so many weeds and in the summer I did the worst thing I could have done. To make it look nice, I actually just cut the weeds off at the surface and figured I’d sort it out in the winter. Well it’s winter and some of those nasty weeds, and in particular the dock, have such strong roots that, in some places, I have to dig everything up to get them out and then replant the raspberries. I hope they aren’t too damaged by my aggressive weeding.
The soil is cold and wet and the only advantage is the dock roots – once you get a hold of them – free themselves from the ground without taking all the soil with them. It’s almost like there is this herculean battle of strength going on as I try and evict them from the ground and then all of a sudden they just give up – without warning and just ‘pop’ out of the soil.
I only got one side of the bed done as the weather was kind of crazy. One moment the sun would be shining and it would be kind of warm – ish, and then this heavy rain would come out of nowhere, but not long enough to make you want to pack your gear up and go inside. So I spent quite a bit of time huddled in the shed waiting for it to stop.
Come again soon – despite sore aching muscles – I shall push on and clear that bed.
Sarah the Gardener : o )
Well done with all your hard work. Hope you are suitably rewarded with your soft fruits.
Hi Jean. I am so looking forward to eating raspberries this year. They will taste so much sweeter for all the hard work that went into preparing them for the season.
Cheers Sarah : o )
OH, dock, how I hate thee. The bane of my gardening existence.
Hi Jenn. Dock is the worst. I should listen to my own advice and pull them out when they are tiny and don’t ever let them go to seed. This year I will be much more vigilant. I just need to remember my poor achey muscles!
Cheers Sarah : o )
Ground Elder is the worst invader of my garden but Dock comes a close second. I hope the muscle ache isn’t too bad in the morning.
Hi Elaine. Luckily we don’t have ground elder, but dock is bad enough. I have a theory about dock, that the roots actually go through the centre of the earth. So maybe if you have a close look in your garden you may find I have pulled out some of your dock!
Cheers Sarah : o )
😀
Hi Sarah, I hot soak in the bath with Epsom Salts is good for the muscle aches.
Hi Tracy. A hot bath is even more tempting as it is quite cold outside!
Cheers Sarah : o )
As I always say, you can tell real gardeners, they don’t need to go to the gym to have huge biceps, they just hurl themselves at the weeds ;). You sleep amazingly well after doing herculean battle with big weeds, there is always some payoff 😉
Keep up the good work Sarah. All will come out in the wash as they say, so don’t stress over which you do first. My list is long as well, but it gets done with time. Right now I am rehabbing my strawberry patch also. I pulled all the weeds out, including some strawberry plants that stopped producing. now I have twenty new plants in and will put newspapers around them to keep the already present weeds at bay and mulch over top of that to allow the runners something to grow in.
HI Joe. In winter it is so tempting to stay inside and wrapped up warm and it is easy to forget just how busy the growing season is. If I don’t get onto these tasks now, they will never be done. This year the list is helping me to make a steady progress without too many days going to waste.
Good luck with the strawberries, they are looming up on my list, but I expect they will be a lot of work.
Cheers Sarah : o )