The lack of rain this year has had one (small) positive– light weed pressure.  I am always amazed at how, even with almost no rain, some weeds are still able to grow.  Seriously, I dig into the root zone and the ground crumbles from lack of moisture, but the Malva and winter weeds are still green.  Here we are running a blade just below surface of the bed to undercut the roots.  They should dry up in a few days once the taproot is cut.

This field is organic and will be planted to watermelons the end of March.  It is very important to not let the weeds get started in organic fields because there are no effective herbicides to control mature weeds and once the roots are well attached they are very difficult to control.  In fact, we spent the day before trying to set the lilliston in this field but it is so dry and hard that it would not penetrate deep enough to cut the roots.  The blade is doing the job, fortunately.