4 hours done in the allotment yesterday. I made myself go back after lunch for a final hour and while the stamina was still there, my strength certainly wasn’t. I’ve been somewhat stiff and creaky today. Once I finally peeled myself out of bed, that is.
Did you know that you use the same muscles in your arm to use a hole punch as for gardening? I found that out this afternoon when doing the filing. My hands know all about all the digging too.
After hoying out the final few cabbages, the big achievement was getting Braeburn Corner cleared out. I’d not really looked properly around and behind the apple tree, partly because it was too overgrown to really stand in. I just knew that it was covered in weeds and that there was also some discarded netting in there too.
Grass and weeds had become one with the black plastic netting to such a degree that they had to be cut off both sides in order to be extracted. There were discarded bean pods, more bits of netting, thistles, buttercups, docks, nettles, grass, brambles, plantain and speedwell, which at least doesn’t put up any kind of fight if you pull it up.
So before breaking for lunch, I managed to transform that into this:
Yeah!
The netting is now residing over near Plum Corner, near the gate, by what I call my “industrial rubbish”. There was a half-height barrel in the plot when I moved in and I’m using that to house non-organic finds. Most of it is indeed rubbish, but there are a few things in things, such as canes and flower pots, which may be deemed worthy of my further attention.
In the hour after lunch I dug up one of the rhubarb plants, made a start on reducing another horribly overgrown, thistle-ridden section along from Braeburn Corner, cleared out more weeds from along the back fence and had a go at cutting down some of the raspberry canes. I thought that was going to be a doddle, but I am here to tell you that, no, it is not. Next time I’m down at the allotment I’ll go for just digging up the plants. The canes will still need to be cut down in order to go into the bin, but maybe I’ll delegate that to someone else foolish enough to accept the job.
