A Surprise Find

Just some very nice late afternoon sunshine after a mostly cloudy day. There was no breeze so it felt very mild in the sunshine.

Last year on the plot we decided it was time to renovate our old strawberry beds. As the strawberries had been planted in March 2008 the plants had become overgrown with weeds. Drastic action was required and we decided to clear the strawberries and start a new strawberry bed.

This was the state of the beds last autumn with the strawberries cleared. The ground was like concrete and trying to remove weeds was impossible. The beds eventually got very roughly turned over and the left for the winter frosts and rain to do their work.

The dry start to the year has left the soil in excellent condition for digging or rather cultivating. It’s not too wet and dry enough to break up into good friable soil. So I made the most of the good weather clearing out as many weeds before running the cultivator through the beds. Whilst breaking up one clod of soil infested with couch grass I was surprise to find this newt curled up inside.

It was moved to another part of the plot well away from any harmful cultivator tines.

Once cultivated the 3 beds looked in good condition and ready for planting with some early potatoes in a couple of weeks time.