Getting a Headstart on Next Year!

We have finally dug out the last corner of the plot, its been sitting under plastic sheeting for months to break down the high grass.The plastic was removed and the dead grass could be easily pulled away making it possible for a fellow plotter to come in with a rotavator to break up the ground.
 We then dug it over thoroughly and removed the scutch grass roots and the stones.
 I went on a road trip near Kinsale on Mon and brought back 4 bags of seaweed in the boot of the car!
Wellie boots are compulsory for this task. I did'nt want to get seaweed from the harbour area as it is possibly polluted with diesel from boats and various other unmentionables.
The seaweed was not loose at the waters edge so it meant  collecting it at low tide, and taking conservation into account. I took a large scissors and  cut approx half of each plant leaving the roots still attached to the rocks.The 4 bags only covered about 1/3 of the proposed potato patch for next year so at least 2 more  foraging trips are necessary.

It is thickly covered with the seaweed which will act as a mulch over winter and is good for potatoes also, the ground will be ready for planting seed potatoes instead of playing catch up as we have been doing all of this season.

I had covered some of it with this large cardboard box but this evening that was removed to cover the cleared onion bed. The onions have been drying over the past weeks and are now plaited to hang in storage.
The bed has been cleared and covered with old mushroom compost and covered now with the cardboard so that is one more bed ready for next season, we are clearing and readying as we go.

The brassica cage which is in the corner of the above pics. Brussels Sprouts , Kale and cabbage are doing well but the netting has served its time and a few holes have appeared through which the white cabbage butterfly got in so some caterpillar damage is visible on the sprouts and cabbage. We are not pulling the Kale just cutting leaves  carefully from each plant and trying to make them last as long as possible.