Last night the full moon was bright and clear. It cast its silvery light from a gin clear sky. With the clear sky the temperature dropped to several degrees of frost. Saturday morning dawned bright, lit by a weak sun. I had the day to myself so chose to give the lottie a coat of looking at. I collected and dealt with the trailer as usual. I decided to finish off the edging to bed D. The ground had a thick frozen crust but once broken the soil dug easily. I plunged the spade vertically into the soil along the marker string. This created an edge. I then dug away the soil up to the edge. The squared off soil edge just required the plank to drop in on edge, pressed against the soils edge then the pegs hammered to to hold the plank. I then lifted one end of the plank up to the string line and secured the plank to the peg with a screw. Then to the other end of the plank and again positioning the plank's edge to the string, screwed the plank to the peg. I then secured the rest of the planks to the pegs with pairs of screws. The next job was to level the area which is now the path. I turned the soil over and weeded the soil. Thereafter it was just a case of trampling the soil until it was a firm and level bed. It was then a time for a brew. At least this time round I remembered all of the parts needed for a brew. Last time a forgot the milk!
I stood with my back to the sun to drink my tea. I watched the birds flit about the soil I had just turned over. Despite the sun the air was hardly above zero but there was no wind at all. In the shadows the frost remained and even when I left soil had not thawed. Now that snow has gone the sun made the colours of the countryside extremely vivid.
The ground was too hard to dig so a set about job I have had in mind for a very long time. It was to create a mettled path round the old Rhubarb beds. I laid a weed membrane and filled in the space between the boards with rubble. I tamped the rubble into the smooth surface. Now I do not have to step down into path way made between the beds and the wind netting. I had a bit of spring clean. I bagged up the manky Pumpkins, Potatoes and other dross from around the plot. I packed up and took the bagged rubbish to the tip. Whilst there I got call to say Miss L needed picking up from work. Degsy and I jogged over to Coalville to collect her. Miss L had a treat ready for me, a Cheese & Onion pastie from Greg......I knew was a good day!
On the way back we dropped into Wicks to collect some copper pipe. When we got home I used the copper pipe and some fittings to make some legs for the staging in the green house. The staging is the temporary rack that I will use for seed trays in the spring. Under the staging I will grow my Tomatoes. When the Toms get to the underside of the staging I will remove it to let them grow on. I bit of pipe, a couple of cables ties and an hour of fettling and I have a sturdy, if temporary, stage. Things are slowly coming together.
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