Topic: There is hope...

[dandelion]

The docks are growing vigourously :(, dandelions are popping up all over my plot :(, half of the couch turns out not to be couch after all (but probably something even worse like bindweed >:(!), carrots, chervil and spring onions still haven't germinated :'( , I just can't rake the clay into a fine tilth  :(, I discovered a bramble with roots like a tree :'(, 
BUT
a potato has made it to the surface in the lazybed ;D ;D ;D!!!

[supersprout]

(does celebratory potato dance with Dandelion lol)
It's less than three weeks from when you said you planted the spuds, so haven't they done well! More lazybeds to come?
Will go and tell my potatoes your news and see if that gets them to stir their stumps a bit - no sign above ground yet :'(

NB Healthy weeds mean Healthy Soil ;)

[dandelion]

Thanks Supersprout. I'm so chuffed ;D! Just 3 weeks
since I planted them; it's one of the first earlies which I planted a week or so before the end of March. I think it's Arran Pilot or Red Duke of York.

[busy_lizzie]

Hurrah!! A potato you say Dandelion, that is excellent!  It is aways a relief when you spot the foliage coming up. We are just going to plant our potatoes out tomorrow, so in the not too distanct future we will be scanning the soil anxiously too. busy_lizzie

[SMP1704]

Well done Dandelion.  Remember, when all spuds have sprouted and have lush foliage, they will smother out the weeds - hooray ;D ;D

Well, so I'm told ???

[jennym]

It is good when you start to see something growing isn't it. You will get the better of the weeds eventually too, honest! The foliage on the spuds will help suppress the weeds in that bit. And keep cutting the leaves of docks and other weeds and add them to your compost heap if you don't get the time to dig the roots out, the leaves all help to improve the soil when you dig the resulting compost back in, and then you'll get your longed for fine tilth!

[Curryandchips]

Whenever I am wondering about whether it is too early to plant, my neighbour will glance at the soil and mutter 'the weeds will tell you'. So true I think, the weeds are a good indicator of soil temperatures and the growing cycle. Of course, it suddenly happens very quickly then, but I am managing to keep up I think ... with my new stirrup hoe, at least the weeding is easier ...