Shrubs, roots, seeds and flowers

My seeds from Green Vegetable Seeds arrived in the post this morning.

There are loads more crocuses and some mini daffodils out in the front bed between the weeds. 

Before

Long grass removed.

Amazing grass roots.

More roots appearing.

After

 I spent most of today at one bed trying to remove all of the roots. When I started this area years ago I had read up on the no dig method and left it covered for a year or so. When I removed the covers the network of thick roots was visible, but I covered the beds with layers of cardboard and old grass before adding compost to anywhere I was ready to plant. Half of this bed never got finished and the other half was not used much. Nothing was done with it for a year or two so the grass took over again. I found another ant nest in it, along with extensive roots of grass and horsetail. I hope I've done enough clearance to stop the weeds taking over again. The second bed I did gave me some hope, as it had good quality compost added to it a couple of years and was weeded and planted more often. The soil here was much looser and any roots came out easily. The same size bed was done in about 15 minutes. I also planted out shrubs from these two beds today and added some new willow cuttings behind the bench where the ones I put in last year don't seem to be growing.

These dogwood bushes finally got a new home. I grew them from cuttings which were put 'temporarily' in the veg beds a few years ago.

Long grass removed from this bed too.