Back ache

Heading up to the allotment this afternoon was a welcome break from the tedium that is marmalade production. I swear I will never give a pot away blithely again. If people knew what a chore it is they would serve it only on Sundays.  My reason for battling the traffic was my keenness to get to the little allotment shop; it’s only open for an hour and a half on Saturday afternoon, and briefly on Sunday. This being January it means potato purchase time (plus some pea and spinach seeds).

First I had to get to the little shed of my own and pot up 32 Sutton Broad Beans into root trainers. I have few hopes for the ones I so recklessly planted directly into the soil earlier in the week, so I thought I’d better start a few off under more controlled conditions. Well I’ve just had a thought. The mice will probably find the ones I planted and am storing in the shed. They are in root-trainer pots in a  clear plastic box in the shed. I’m going to have to secure the lid more firmly if the rodents are to be thwarted. Hope I remember on Monday.

With the money earned from the sale of our home in Primrose Hill I have earmarked some of it to spend on the allotment. This was my mad musings when travelling to Sydney last month. There’s nothing like a long plane journey to stimulate your design and growing plans for the year ahead.  I want to buy a strimmer, and perhaps a fruit cage. And put much more structure in the plot.  One thought I also had was to buy some sort of cold frame. I don’t think I’ll ever warrant a small green house (and if desperate I can always ask Rino to grow things for me in his. He has a plot above mine and only works on weekends, so less lunging takes place. And bless him, his English isn’t great.) But what about a cold frame? They are expensive to buy and I realised as I lugged out two clear plastic boxes that I could just as easily make one. There is a pane of window glass lying next to the dilapidated compost bins; so I have fashioned a crude one that may just do for the broad beans and early peas. The site is such a mess with all my pots from Primrose Hill. But they are doing their job of holding down the black sheeting. Hopefully I will get a clear run of work next week to clear more of the plot. I’m going to brazenly dig into Jana’s plot and exercise squatters rights when it comes to payments in March. I hope I have proved to the allotment association that I can grow productively (if a bit messily). Besides if you can see how ambitious just my broad bean patch is, the rest of the plot should be spectacular.

I also spent a few hours turning over the soil with a fork. I am trying to emulate the older gardeners like Mick who never ever get muddy or seem to bend to attack weeds.  Naturally this being January I am always too keen to get started so I usually give myself back ache for the entire month. Today I have shooters going down my back. Good old sciatica. Hopefully it will improve so I can get down to some close soil and weed inspection next week.