Grubs & Robins

      The weather, time and enthusiasm collided today. The weather was the variable in the this list. Freezing conditions last week were not conducive to digging. Then Thursday this week it threw it down for most of the day. Saturday was taken up with picking up Miss L. The weather remained fine on Saturday which boded well for Sunday. Sunday dawned clear so after a breakfast of boiled eggs, toast and tea it was off to the lottie. There was no one at the lottie. All the plots a bit tired. Mine looked not too bad now the ground had been strimmed and the vines pruned. The milky winter sun did a lot to make the general view looks better.

      The main job was get the spuds dug up. The soil was the consistency of cream cheese. The fork was a waste of time for digging the spuds. I got the spade out instead. Then arranged the wheelbarrow for collecting the weeds and there plenty of weeds to go at. The main culprits are Dock and Grass but as I was to find out there was some major roots from the nearby Willows. I just got going in the plough head land, as grandly call it. I just worked across the plot throwing the spuds into the tray and the weeds into the barrow. On the third row the spuds were different. I got another tray so as to keep the varieties separate. Over and back, over and back with spuds in one place and weeds in another. I put the kettle on when I was half way across the plot then went back to harvesting or was it weeding?  By the time I finished the row the kettle was boiling. I made a brew and remembered to get wrapped up against the cold. I sat on the compo bin and supped my brew. The Robin's where happy to see the back of me for a while so they could forage over the new turned earth. I had been feeding them with Cockchaffer grubs as I found them in the soil but they wanted more. Cockchaffer grubs are massive about 40/50mm [2 inches] long so half a dozen of those should fill the Robin's up.

     Brew over and back to the spade and rows of spuds. I managed another two rows before I ran out of time. One of the other lottie holders turned up and came over for a chat. Having chatted about the year just gone we wished each other a Merry Christmas and set off back to our plots. I tidied the tools away and packed up Degsy. I trundled back home in the weakening Sun. I took the spuds straight round the back of the house and gave them a wash before parking them in the shed.