The Zen-ness wears off

   The weather this week has been very nice. Bright sunshine and a gentle breeze although it still has a cold edge to it. Yesterday was business and bees but today was partially dedicated to the lottie. I hoped that I would not find anything untoward at the lottie when I got there that would divert me from my chosen tasks. I got to the lottie and found that I was the only one there. The retired members of the society had obviously been busy during the week. Neatly tilled beds and straight rows earthed up spuds made my plot look shabby by comparison. I put up a new feeder and filled them all up. the Great Tits were on them in a flash. The Robin was a little more circumspect.

   Since last week the Nettles have started poking through on the path by the Rhubarb bed. I got he big fork out and used it to loosen the gravel of the path so I could lift the nettles root and all. They came away fairly easily. The runners on Nettles run a few inched below the surface of the soil so are not usually hard to weed out. I just had to use the fork to rake out the path gravel to a reasonably surface before I tread it down. That corner now looks neat and cared for.

   Everything was more or less as I had left it except for a bit of matting that had got away from its weights in the wind. The matting was re-secured and I began the weeding of Bed4 where I had left off. The soil was quite dry and compacted from not being touched last year. It was a bit of a bind to break the soil from the roots of the grass. I found a good whack with the flat of the spade broke the soils grip on the roots and was a small matter the shake the soil off the root before chucking the grass clump into the wheelbarrow. I chugged away at the weeding. Dave P turned up to build his raised beds. We had a chat and went our ways. The muffled sound of rhythmic hammering could be heard as Dave constructed his beds. I continued digging. Digging as I like to call it sound altogether better than weeding which is what I am doing. If you don't have to rush and accept that digging is a big part of caring for the soil then digging [weeding] can be a Zen like state. As soon as the Zen-ness wears off I put the kettle on to make a brew and whilst the kettle is heating up I work to the end of the row as a target. That way I get to finish a little more of the bed and get rewarded with Tea. I got to the peg that was my target for today. Just as I got the rake out my mobile went off. It was the missus. She was finishing her walk early and could we meeting an hour earlier than planned. The answer had to be yes but I had to sacrifice planting the onion sets. I gave the bed a good raking and tidied up.

   The missus was doing a walk for charity. This walk was to support Parkinson's disease. We know a couple of chaps affected by this disease. Click HERE for the Parkinson UK charity's website. We had agreed to collect Mrs M from the Staff of Life pub in Ticknall which is very near the finish. Click HERE for their website. It was no hardship to sit in a pub and have a spot of lunch. Fisherman's Pie for me and Turkey and all the trimmings for she who must be obeyed. Then home.