Right so. Getting back to the Tuesday field. We left for about 2 weeks on business in Dublin and elsewhere. You'll remember how the Tuesday field was all aglow with newly germinated seeds of the lovely herbal ley. Well you turn your back and BAM! Two weeks later we have 70% coverage of Redshank. Which is fine if you wanted to grow Redshank, but we dont. We dont want to at all, especially after sourcing and buying all that seed. Today our learning curve is just about a straight vertical line!

Now, what does one do in a situation like this? Where there isnt any Redshank growing the herbal ley is beautiful, perfect in fact, its lush, healthy and juicy. Actually the answer as to what to do was obvious as soon as we walked into the field.

We have to plough. We have to plough in the redshank, harrow it again and wait to see if it comes back. It will be treated as a green manure adding nutrition back to the soil microbiology. When we are happy that the Redshank has been knocked back sufficently we can then look at the best way to proceed. Prehaps with a green manure for the winter and then attempt the herbal ley again next year.

Whatever about being poorer, we are certainly wiser.