Weeding... little and often

Wandered down to the plot today to find Jim putting one of the concrete shed base slabs in as an edging bit between the path and the area where the shed will be... that means I need to find 3 more slabs on the abandoned plot. I was also planning on using gravel board... Oh well, it looks good and I didn't have to do any work -yay! Having thought about it, I will bring some flags from home to make the shed base and then use the slabs as the edging.

No real plan for today other than to do some weeding. First the easy bit, hoeing the big areas to slice through the annuals. Then the difficult bit; perennials -boo!

We had weeded pretty thoroughly, but with stuff like bindweed 'pretty thoroughly' is not enough as it can grow from a piece of root as small as 1 inch (and possibly smaller). We knew the potato trenches might be harbouring some, but the plan was to weed as they come up, weed as you earth up the spuds and weed as you dig them up. So I worked my way along the earth ridges gently pulling out any bindweed from the loose soil and throwing it on the bare earth to dry in the sun (which kills it). Most came out out easily but some pieces were a little deeper and snapped so the tranquility of the allotment was frequently shattered by low utterances of "bugger", "shit" and "bastard bloody stuff".

Each time I pass I pull out another bit, and any big bits get a spray of glyphosphate which should kill the roots. I know glyphosphate isn't organic (by UK standards, although can be classed as organic by European ones so that will do me) but needs must. Bindweed is amazing stuff, you turn your back for 5 minutes and it grows another foot!