Second bed finished, and a VERY exciting find..

Saturday jobs

Finished my first bed! Sieved the soil to get out the huge lumps (chucked them on a bed further down to hopefully break down a bit), raked it over, then covered with manure to protect the soil a bit. Used my new lawn shears (from Homebase) to trim the grass round the edge.

Started weeding the second bed. Covered the bit I did with cardboard to (hopefully) protect the soil - from more weeds sprouting, and from drying out too much. 

My first crop! Kind of, the Rhubarb stem a bit too bendy for my liking. Not sure if it's ok to eat a previous year's crop, or whether I should cut it down and start again.. 

Finished weeding the first bed

Finished weeding the first bed. Took nearly an hour, just to go round the edge! Then added compost and raked it over. You can see from the big lumps on the left why you should NEVER DIG THE SOIL WHEN IT'S WET (as I did on Saturday) - the lumps are absolutely rock hard and unworkable. I'll have to take them out and wait for them to break down. 

Saturday jobs

Getting started on the first raised bed - weeding

A mulch of straw and horse manure for the rhubarb (as suggested by my nice neighbour Robert) - provided free from the local stables