Bowing and scraping

I went up to the plot yesterday with the firm intention of actually doing some work, having the unexpected benefit of a still, sunny morning. It was cold up on the site, though - the puddles in the weed-suppressing black plastic were still frozen at 10 am. I spent an hour with a spade, bent down to scrape off the turf and weeds from about six square metres of plot. An hour felt like long enough for that sort of labour - I'm certainly feeling the effects this morning. Another hour will probably see the rest of the end third of the plot cleared, and ready to dig over so the raised beds can be installed.

The broad beans continue to survive, and the larger ones are showing signs of leaf buds, which is encouraging.