The weeding begins...

The hail and freezing rain showers have eased off again, and we've managed to get some good weeding done over the last couple of days. Yesterday I weeded and earthed-up the potatoes (a tricky task in such small beds), and Eddie made a good start on the onions and carrots.

That onion/carrot/parsnip bed is a nightmare - there are loads of potatoes popping up! And there was me thinking last year's potato harvest was a disaster - looks like we just couldn't find them! But it's good to see, under all the weeds, that the carrot seedlings and the parsnip seedlings are coming up nicely.

Today I dug over another of the flower-beds too. This is where we planted the volunteer hazelnut tree last month, which is doing well, and I have planted some borage seedlings here too. I think I will seed the rest with poached-egg plant and marigolds, and plant out another bee-balm.

Gosh; look how weedy the raspberries are already, on the right! Must turn my attention there soon... I am painfully aware that this is just the very beginning of the weeding season...

The 'red spur' apple tree is in full blossom now, and it's gorgeous:

Makes me wonder if there's something wrong with this one; 'gold spur':


Remember my wasp trouble last week? I have removed a new wasp nest almost every day since - she just wouldn't give up. But today I finally caught and killed the wasp. I felt pretty bad about it, actually, but sometimes it's us or them, right?

Anyway, it allowed me to finish giving the bench a clear-out and tidy. We have no shed so this is where we keep everything. Trouble is, 'ventilated' also means 'damp' and 'lets all the bugs in', so we recently bought a couple of plastic boxes to make our lives easier. A big one for the trowels, other hand tools, gloves, string and other gardening essentials; and a small one for tissues, sun cream, wet wipes and plasters. No more will spiders nest in my tissue box! No more will ants infest my favourite gloves!