Digging, cutting, pruning, raking, wheelbarrowing. That seems to have been my life for the past week. There is SO much cutting back, re-shaping, digging out, composting, shredding and green-tipping to do that I think I am starting to go ever so slightly raving mad. It can be a bit demotivating thinking about just how much work still has to be done to get the smallest smallholding into any sort of working shape for next year. It seems that the autumn and winter are going to be dedicated to mostly re-shaping the land to make better use of it now that I have some inkling of how things work and just how much veg (and herbs - remember the herb project!) I want to grow.

Thing is, I bloody hate digging out my veg plots with a passion. But with my mega-plot extension, it’s just got to be done. We did consider hiring a mini digger for the day, but as much as I would LOVE to get one to help, it’s just too expensive for the likes of us, the piss poor church mice that we are currently. So it looks like the next few weeks I’ll be out in the rain and wind (long hair constantly being blown into my face is possibly the most aggrivating experience - even when tied up and wedged down underneath a dodgy beanie hat) digging and uncovering goodness knows what. Previous debris uncovered (or recovered) from the plots include disturbingly large animal bones, terracotta drainage pipes, wire, wrangled metal, old bottles, bits of random china, a lot of glass and whole bricks (useful!).

We managed to score some free used block paving at the weekend. My aunt works for a local school which had taken up a few pallets-worth of this very weathered and worn block paving. So rather than it going to the skip, and then on to landfill, my aunt declared that we’d take it away and use it. So there was me, Rich, my mum and dad, my aunt and step-uncle, all loading our cars up and taking the stuff away. The ultimate in recycling! I have already laid some down next to my greenhouse so that I can put out pots in the summer on it. It actually looks pretty good - not as utlitarian as I thought. Because it’s been weathered nicely, it’s quite mellow-looking and actually looks as if it’s been there quite a while already. Anyway, I’m going to use the rest to lay down a path into and inside my greenhouse (also a freebie from freecycle), and if there’s any left over I might even do a small seating area outside the greenhouse.

I splurged last week and bought some 3mm UV-resistant acrylic panes for the greenhouse, so now that’s all in one piece, no gaping holes. I decided on the seemingly less-”green” option of acrylic rather than glass as I thought it would probably last longer, so I wouldn’t have to keep buying (and someone manufacturing) the brittle horticultural glass. The acrylic, although pretty much just as good as the glass (and safer for the likes of the accident prone like me) does tend to sag a bit in the middle in the roof panes, so Rich reckons he’s going to construct a little support for it. This is when he’s constructed my greenhouse staging - are you getting this Rich? Greenhouse staging - need it pronto!!!

N.B. Pic is me digging for victory with our hens at the very beginning of this year, just a few weeks after we’d got them. Take a look at my “meet the girls” page to see what they look like now - beauties!

This entry was posted on Monday, September 17th, 2007 at 4:42 pm and is filed under herbs, plans, hens, veg. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.