Garden Rescue

For the first time since the snow, I ventured up to the cabbage patch to see what the state of play really was; let’s just say it wasn’t good. The cabbages had been thoroughly enjoyed by the slugs and snails, the celery was no longer strong and tall and the broad beans for an early spring crop were black and mushy: yuck.

So, first up, although I dillied and dallied not wanting to start, was to clear all the dead rubbish from the beds. I began by chopping back the raspberry canes, something I should have done earlier, but hadn’t had the chance. I then went on to clearing and digging over the carrot and parsnip bed, removing weeds and old spinach plants from the other, and cutting back the black, sludgy beans, leaving the newer shoots at the bottom in hope. Fingers crossed.

I also removed all the old tomatoes, peppers and chillies from outside and the greenhouse, and dug over any beds. Robins will have the chance to enjoy the freshly turned earth before I cover them with black bags to help keep the weeds a bay and warm the soil as spring approaches.

Then cleared the greenhouse – phew!