Friday 1st May
I had a day off yesterday, but went on Wednesday and started tackling the bit at the bottom, where nothing's been done since last summer. The grass is long there and the weeds have begun to take hold. I want to plant the dahlias down there, so started by defining the edge of the grassy path which was seriously encroaching into the planting area. The tufts of grass were thrown in to fill up the hole, once I'd managed to knock some of the soil off. It was tough work, as the soil was hard and dry. I levelled some of the soil and laid a long piece of carpet down to make it easier for the wheelbarrow to access the hole.
I don't see any evidence of the Purple Haze carrots I planted some weeks ago, so I planted another row of carrot seeds. Well I thought it was going to be a row, but actually there weren't enough seeds to complete the row. Maybe it was a free packet as there were only 31 seeds in the packet. No - I didn't count them - it said on the front of the packet!
Today, I returned to the bottom end and continued removing unwanted grass and weeds. There are raspberry canes struggling for survival amongst all the grass. I did a bit of weeding in amongst the artichoke plants which are growing rapidly. They were over seven feet tall in July last year when we took over the plot, with blooms which were already fading. I can't believe they will have produced artichokes by then.
I planted a row of tagetes - small marigold-like flowers which I'm told will help keep the unwanted pests away from the crops.
The baby robins continue to thrive, although no cheeping yet - they're still very sleepy.
I picked another pound of asparagus today. I think it's slowing down a bit now, as I haven't picked any since last weekend.