The lure of the logs

Now that was a close call: warm sunny living room, blazing fire. I’d just had a cup of tea and a piece of christmas pudding.   A scandiwegian crime novel was in front of me and I asked the big question.   Will I just curl up here and have a deliciously languid afternoon of reading? Or will I put on two more layers of fleece, two pairs of gloves, thick boots, and go out into the garden.

To my utter amazement I opted for the garden. Gad it’s cold.   But so gloriously sunny. And I have worked out that some of the soil actually defrosts by about 3pm and you can get in a good two and half hour’s digging before the sun sets.

So that is what I did. And boy am I glad. I now have three quarters of the vegetable garden sorted.   Just the brassica bed to go, but I can’t attack that as it is still full of veg.   I do need to fork the manure over them, but that was enough heaving on the shovel for today.

I also collected more sticks for chipping.   Up in the forest I cut down the small shoots from the chestut trees. Excellent straight sticks, just perfect for the garden: they are green, whippy and go through the chipping machine without much protest.

This amount was two tarpaulin loads hauled down from the forest.