Runners and riders

OK, who chose a winner? My usual stroke of luck that keeps me from winning the National Lottery helped me avoid picking a winner on the Grand National this year. Once again I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of success. There is one part of the horse racing game that interests me, how do they manage those hedges? Horses crashing over and sometimes through them can't be good for them!
Anyway, back to the plot. Talking of runners, I put up my bean canes for my runner beans today. Spent about two and a half hours on the plot, doing a bit of hand weeding, watering and cropping. Also took some ash from the incinerator at home down to spread around my raspberry canes. They like a bit of potash.
I usually just strim the wees on the paths between the beds as mowing is too difficult with a push mower and I don't own or have the means to transport a power mower. I like the idea of leaving some cover on the soil on the paths as I'm convinced the bare earth would draw moisture from the beds. I hope eventually to be able to cover the paths in a mulch but that will take time. Maybe ,if I remember , this Autumn I'll lay cardboard down on them and top it with either leaf or grass clippings.The cardboard I used on the beds has kept the moisture in and the weeds down.Pulled a couple of Radish and Spring Onions today, cut a cabbage and picked the last of the sproutings. The white hasn't lasted well, but I put that down to the weather.Sproutings are essentially seed heads and the warm atmosphere is ideal for seed sowing and will have hurried the plants along.
next on the list for sowing will be butternut and courgette and any other of the squash family I intend to grow this year. Tomatoes I will buy as plants as I don't grow enough for a packet full of seeds and the germination rate of tomatoes is pretty high.Same goes for peppers, not having to sow early under glass and with heat makes up for the cost and limited range. All this just as soon as I've got the cash for some compost!