Cultivating concrete

Monday had a few sunny spells but it was a blustery day not really that good for August.

I decided I could no longer delay attempting to dig over some of the beds on the plot due to be planted up with crops for harvesting early next spring. For weeks now I’ve kept my eye on the weather forecast which usually has one day of heavy rain forecast in the next few days but then it never falls here. 

This is typical of the forecasts over the last several months. The forecast is always for rain in the next few days. Perhaps it will be correct this time and we will get some heavy rain on Wednesday.

The soil on the plot was extremely hard, and even with a cultivator, on ground that is regularly dug, it was slow going. Some clumps of soil were like small stones and just wouldn’t break up. 

This newly dug ground is for our last crop of French Beans for the year and they’ll probably be some space left over for a few lettuce plants. Considering this soil has just been dug over it looks just the same colour as un dug soil with no sign of moisture at all. The new plantings will need to be well watered in.

This is the bed dug over ready for planting up with crops for spring, which will be mostly brassicas. It too is in the same very dry condition. It was watered a couple of times last week but you wouldn't think so. I've noticed that the bed to its left looks as though it needs a little tidying up. I’m sure it doesn’t look so bad in real life.