As I reported in a previous post it had not rained for some time. Well, it is making up for it now. To go back to Saturday, I had found a local supplier for a jockey wheel for my trailer at reasonable cost, at least a price I was prepared to pay. I was there and back in an hour, £14 lighter. H had arranged for a friend to come to visit overnight. H met Sue at an Open University Summer Camp ten years ago this year. Sue was coming up from the Southend area. I figured I could get down the lottie for a while. Sue was bound to get held up on the M25. As luck would have it for me but not for Sue, she did get held up. It took four hours to get to us. H did not ring me to say Sue had arrived but just turned up at the lottie. Sue has recently taken on an allotment after two years on the waiting list. Her plot is in need of restoration as it was abandoned by successive holders. It was nice to be asked for advice about going about the reclamation. We discussed want she had found under the weeds. Fruit bushes mainly and some edged beds. The key, from my point of view, is to have a plan.....and black plastic! Sue seem encouraged when she learned that it took me a whole four years to bring my plot into full cultivation. I think the key is to have specific targets, clear a bed here, fettle a border here, do some weeding there, plant something no matter how small the return. In time the cultivated areas expand until all the soil is working and as you go you get the reward of an increasing harvest which encourages you.
Where does the black plastic come in? I used it to cover the parts of the beds that I knew I would not be able to tackle for a long time. The plastic excludes the light and water. Eighteen months under the plastic and no plants not even the weeds can survive. I had heard of blind beds and put a plan into action. Weed seeds in fact any seeds do not all germinate upon planting. They stay in the soil and germinate at a later date. It is the way plants hedge against death of the older plants without seeding. Weeds seed in particular are very good at staying viable in the soil, that is why when you take on an old plot there are always weeds regardless of how much weeding you do. It takes years to exhaust the weed seed bank in the soil. What I did was to remove the plastic every couple of months, rake up the soil to expose the weed seeds to the light which started a number of them growing [more than I cared to count]. After a few of weeks I would put the plastic back over the plot for another couple of months. A couple of these cycles reduced the weeds. It is quite quick to do as well. Fifteen minutes to cover or uncover an area, a couple of minutes to rake then stand back to watch the weeds grow or wonder how long to leave the plastic on for.
Whilst waiting for Sue I had one of my regular rushes of blood to my head. I decided to lay the paving stones, provided by Steve some weeks ago, to finish my patio. The "soil" which it is not, at this end of my plot, was rock hard so much so the blade end of the Mattock was bouncing off the surface. I used the pick end to loosen the surface and rake it sort of level. Forty minutes of toil saw the paving stones laid. It should have taken less time but Steve and another plot holder Martyn came over to chat but mainly to take the mickey. I tidied up the area in front of the old compost bins. It all looks quite neat. With time on my hands I could put it off no longer. My conscience would not permit the weeds in the top end of bed four to ignored a day longer. In fact it turned out to be relatively painless and not very time consuming but it did generate another two barrow loads for the compost bins. The bins are now completely stuffed. Martyn gave me some Brasiccas which I planted out. The tray of Beetroots that I should have planted were still sulking in the tray. It was about this time H and Sue turned up. I got the deck chair I got for my birthday last year out of the car. I have carried it back and forth but hardly used it. I tried it out on the new patio, yes it works very well but sitting in the chair, even on the new patio, something is missing........a cold beer. No chance today. Perhaps next time. H and Sue left me to pack up. By the time I got home the G&T's had broken out. It was the start of a very pleasant evening.
No pain on Sunday morning. I made a fullish English breakfast for us all. H and Sue went for a walk round Caulke Abbey. I stayed at home a did a bit of garden fettling and sorting out the Greenhouse. H & Sue returned and we had a spot of lunch. Sue wanted to make an early start back the since the trip up had been so long. We said our goodbye's. Whilst H & Sue were out I arranged to nip over to the stables to fit the jockey wheel. Everything I might need was loaded into my car. But first I had to go to Derby and get a a wireless router to sort out an internat connection to Miss L's computer. The hard wired option that I arranged since her old wireless device expired was less than succesful. Miss L has been very patient waiting for my pay day. Again the travel Gods smiled upon us and the journey there and back was quick and uneventful. Trying to pick the right piece of kit was a trial but we did it in the end. Upon returning home told Miss L I had to sort out the trailer but I would install and configure the router when I got back.
It was rain in the air mainly because it was a howling gale when I got to the stables. There is a small barn next to the stable which was a perfect workshop. When I set to fitting the jockey wheel bracket I noticed two holes in the frame in about the place I wanted to fit the bracket. As I offered up the bracket to test the hole spacings I found the holes where a perfect match. I just greased the bolts slipped them though the bracket and frame and tightend up the nuts. because it was such a quick job I decided to go a bit further and trim the bolts back the face of the nuts. That too went smoothly. I rolled the trailer back into it's usual place. Packed up my few spanners and went home. Another job well done. When I got home Miss L was waiting. She had to make a cup of tea which was something of a high price to pay for having the internet fixed on her PC. Miss L like her Mum has discovered it best to give me Tea, a biscuit and plenty of room [time or space] to get on with a job. The installation and configuration took about an hour. I had a problem which I managed to fix. All is well on the wireless Internet front so I am the best Dad in the world... for the time being.
As arranged Sue & Jim came to visit on Monday. They have a ways to come so I would time to do a little job at the lottie. I got going fairly early to take advantage of the Bank Holiday. I had decided that a job that fit into today was strimming the ditch beside and at the end of my plot. I have a Ryobi, 38cc strimmer. It is a cracker and I was given it! I mentally thank Rob everytime I use it. I filled the tank with the petrol/oil mix, gave it full choke and with a few pulls on the starter, it burst into life. Whilst it was warming up I tucked by overalls in my wellies, buttoned up shirt and overalls and put my safety glasses. It only took about thirty minutes to bring the jungle under control. I had to walk down my neighbours plot to get to the ditch at the end of my plot. The strimmer wire wore out. I stepped into the neighbours plot for a work space to extend the strim wire and spotted a Grass Snake. I took a double take. It was still there. Perhaps it was cold. It was cold, "DEAD" cold. The poor devil had got caught up in some netting and died. I recognised it as the snake I had seen during the previous summer. I cut the lifeless body from the tangle of netting and put it in my compost bin. I resolved to call Steve and let him know about it. It was with a heavy heart I packed up and went home.
H was busy with a proper Sunday Dinner, even though it was a Monday. The smell of a roasting bird teased my nose as I walked up to the house. I had just about cleaned up when Sue & Jim pitched up. We had a really nice time just chatting and catching up. We sat down to dinner and fell upon it as if we had not eaten all week. We had trifle for afters. It was delicious. We talked some more. I tried to stay awake but a full belly and couple of glasses of wine is a recipe for forty winks. I hope I did no more than doze a little. I am sure I would have been told and unceremoniously woken up if I had nodded off. Eventually Sue & Jim had to go. We all have work on Tuesday. Spent the next hour or so collecting everything and I needed for my trip to Jersey on the Tuesday. I was to fly from Birmingham on the 08.15. Another early start. I have learned to get everything, including my clothes and polished shoes, ready the night before. I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer at six in the morning.
It has rained heavily on and off since Monday. Folks should have known it would rain this weekend.
A. Because it is a Bank Holiday
B. Because there a round of British SuperBikes at Donnington Park
Still, it will do the potatoes good.
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