A fantastic morning of scavenging

I was wrong: it’s going to take one more day to clear those weeds. I finished the day with a patch of about four feet by four feet of weeding to go. And couldn’t turn another bit of earth.  Mind you, I could have just stayed out there until I finished, but working more than four hours a day seems like a rather extravagant amount of time for one’s ‘hobby’.  This is only meant to be a part-time dabble.

It was cool but sunny and I arrived just at the same time as the nice Vietnamese couple next to me. (Nothing beats not having to wrestle with the front gate and the sticky keys. I just swanned in and the lady locked the gate behind me.  We all seem to have the same routine. Open the boot, change one’s shoes, pat the resident allotment cat, get out the tools and stalk over to the site.

I’ve noticed that I don’t get full sun until about 10am on the beds closest to the fence.  May affect the growth of the cabbages and root vegetables.

I had a bit of time to Avoid Weeding – I decided it was time to trim the edges of grass first.  We are supposed to take charge of the paths next to our plots.  And I have a long lot of grass next to me on the main path.  I have the tool to trim the edges, but no lawn mower.  For one mad moment I thought I could do it all by hand with my shears.  But once I finished my edges I had the most tremendous blister on my middle finger to show for it.   Plus two bags of grass cuttings.  I’m going to have to make friends with someone who has a petrol mower. We have no electricity so I can’t invest in an electric strimmer.  Jana, I think, just ignored her grass.  But I am trying to be a good citizen. So will sniff around when any of my neighbours starts up their mower.  I remember my father’s hand mower – a wonderful tool which made the most lovely sound as it ran back and forth across the grass.  But I do recall you had to spend a bit of time oiling and fiddling and maintaining the blades.  But who knows, maybe someone has that sort of ancient machine – it certainly won’t be something you worry about getting stolen from the shed.

I did have a fantastic morning of scavenging before I came up to the garden today.  Having an allotment makes one bold – and even wealthy Primrose Hill has some rich pickings.  I got a wooden wine box from the local Nicholas (a Lalande de Pomerol no less. Shame it was empty) so I can plant up my salad leaves in some style.

I also boldly went to the neighbours who have one of the only big gardens in the street and asked for some cuttings for my pea sticks.  They make a willow sculpture in their garden each year for their children to hide in – a sort of garden bower. And they gave me about 20 sticks of last year’s pruning for my peas.  And lastly I managed to get some of the beautiful parquet flooring planks from the house opposite.  They are gutting the house and just chucking it away.  It’s rather fun to see the hideous kitchen units going, but I am surprised that no one wants to re-use the floor.  I’m going to use them as planks to walk on up on the beds.  And if I can get dressed in time, I may go over and get some more.  I can hear them piling everything in the street and waiting for the crane to pick it all up and take it to the dump.

I had a look at the broad beans I planted yesterday – and boy are they sulking. Not very happy about where they are poor things. I knew there wasn’t a frost last night, but it must have been colder than I thought. I hope they improve.  It does mean that I will put off putting out the rest of the little seedlings until I come back.  They can sit out on my roof terrace and harden off up there for ten more days.  The seedlings ‘under glass’ (well tacky plastic bottles) are fine.

Then it was up to the apple trees and more weeding. I have it down to a fine art and actually sit down now rather than ruin my back.  But it is becoming tedious in the extreme. Possibly because there are less slugs to scoop up, and very few weeds under the soil to distract me.  Must remind myself that this is the first and last time I have to do this sort of heavy work.  And on Friday I will finish.

It’s nice company to hear my ‘neighbours’ chattering away in (I think) Vietnamese nearby.  They are incredibly hard working and diligent. And like all gardeners, seem very generous. They offered me some seed potatoes. I had to explain that I had all mine in the soil already and under fleece, so didn’t need any more.  But it was kind of them to offer.

I finished the day with another swoop on my prepared beds. It’s tremendous fun – you spot a bit of green poking through, grab it out and find it’s attached to a tremendous couch grass root. Down you go on hands and knees and start hunting the rest. I pulled up a lovely handful. So satisfying.

Home to tend my blistered hand.