Strawberry Bed, Sowing Spring Onions and Preparing the Carrot Bed

Strawberries

Started clearing the the strawberry bed on plot 29, only about two months late. The number of runners that have rooted is amazing. One of those jobs where it is really hard to see the wood for the trees. So around and around the bed then leave it to finish another day.

Sowing spring onions

Next I removed the cloche from the shallots, they’re not doing too well, A couple look very unhealthy but the garlic in the same bed is doing well so I suspect the shallots rather than the soil. I sowed a row of  Ramrod spring onions between them. Intercropping is a good way to really use space. The fast growing spring onoins should be in my tum before the shallots need the space.

Preparing the carrot bed

The deep bed where I tried to grow some Japanese vegetables, without much success, last year needed weeding and the Gobo was coming back up. Gobo is burdock as in dandelion and burdock. Since I have no idea what to do with it, up it came. Long roots, some about a foot long or more. Although better than the soil on the plot, it was still pretty compacted and the cultivation always causes the soil to expand so I knew it wold be spilling over the edge if I didn’t remove some.

Removed a good barrowload of soil from the bed and then used the Mantis to really break up the soil to as deep as I could, about nine inches to a foot before I thought the Mantis would drown.

Next I added a couple of bags of sharp sand, which will lighten the soil and mixed that in with the Mantis. I’ll leave it to settle for a day or two before I start sowing some carrots in there. Maybe a row of parsnips as well.

The sky got very heavy and I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a downpour so headed home about 7pm