Things are looking rich and clumpy and ripe for work
It’s sunny and mild yet again, so I donned my heavy duty mud-protector clothing and headed out to the allotment. Well, first I stopped by the garden centre and scooped up six 80 litre sacks of mini bark chips. Gad they are heavy. I heaved and hauled and wheeled the mighty trolley to the check out (they are blissfully cheap compared to so many other things related to gardening) and then to the car. That was my weight lifting task for the day I thought (hah!)
Out to the allotment, and the only car was Mick’s in the car park – in fact he was pacing about as I went through the tedious procedure of locking and unlocking the gate. It transpired that he was waiting for some of his Irish mates to help him rebuild the fence. A lot of the fence around the site blew down last month and the council refuse to fix it (no money). So everyone has to pitch in and help. And I wasn’t spared. As no-one had turned up I was called upon to lift up one end of a fallen panel and try and slot it into place next to the other panels. Mick would then cement in the posts. It’s times like these that I am grateful my sport is rock climbing and not chess. You just have to be one of the boys and get stuck in. The trick was to get this huge panel over the muddy and rough ground and try not to fall into the hole dug for the posts. We did it and I felt inordinately proud. But then two other strong men arrived and I was able to slink off and get to my bark chips.
But that wasn’t the end of the heavy lifting. Just beyond my plot on the left hand side is a house with very large tall trees that actually shade my shed and the bottom part of all our gardens. And hurrah, they were cutting them down. First they did all the branches and greenery, and today it was chain saw city. But for once I didn’t bemoan the loss of trees or the din of four men at work with saws and a little tractor to take out the trunks. They were very chatty and told me that they hoped I didn’t mind but they had chipped the branches from my fallen down pine tree for me. Mind? I was delighted. And I hoped and hinted that they would take the small base that was left behind (we shall see next week).
What happened to all the bark chips I politely enquired? Oh we dumped them all in the car park for everyone to use. (I just didn’t notice the mountain of the stuff as I was pounced upon by Mick asking for help with the fence.) Free bark chips. Oh the irony. Mick chortled away seeing my car full of the ones from the shop and here I was able to take them for free. They are very fresh mind you, and will need to cure a bit. But they are perfect for my paths. So instead of any gardening plans today, it was out with the wheelbarrow and on and on with transporting bark chips.
That will teach me. Had I been there yesterday I could have asked the men to dump the chips right on my plot; instead I had to do 14 trips to and fro along the path. Plus three heavy trips to the car for the heavy bought ones. But it’s all character building.
And just to accompany these musings about my character, the plot looks like a building site too. Piles and piles of lovely chips just waiting to be spread into their final position. It was warm work but the knowledge that they were free made it a bit easier. Even Rino came and had a look. ‘Free? Are you sure?’ He was sceptical that anything was being given away – but I finally convinced him. I hope there will be some left for him tomorrow, as the word did start to spread.
Flowering news? I have lovely hellebores flowering in their pots. The one I use as a door stop for my shed is in full flower – about 10 blooms of crimson flowers all nodding and hiding shyly among the foliage. I am tempted to cut them and bring them home, but it’s so tricky to get them to sit up proud in the vase (splitting the stems and plunging them in boiling water for a few seconds) that I may just leave them where they are.
My cold frame is working well. I have around 10 broad beans sprouting in their pots. And two sprouting in the ground which is a bit of a thrill (I had to peer carefully at the earth and see where they should be). The mice and the slugs have overlooked their quarry for once.
It’s too wet to dig much even though I want to do the peas; in fact it’s back to swimming pool consistency again, but things are looking rich and clumpy and ripe for work.