Music while you work

I don't know if it is tempting providence but I have taken the spade out of the back of the car. It was in there in case I got stuck in the snow. 

The very sunny weather we've been having has made me think that maybe, just maybe Spring is on the horizon. The blustery bitterly cold wind defies this. According to the weather people we have only until the middle of April to wait for warmer weather, if they had said that in November we'd have laughed at them, now it is a relief. It seems we may be exchanging all this lovely sunshine for rain, which of course is better than snow and will stop all the topsoil blowing off the farmers fields. So there is just a small window of opportunity to get the allotment dug over and the ground prepared for sowing all those things which should have been done several weeks ago.

Bottles of peas

With this in mind I have been busy chitting potatoes & sowing pea seeds and hoping that the broad bean seeds will finally wake up. Many gardeners grow their peas in lengths of guttering so that they can be slid into the ground without disturbing their roots. I haven't tried that and thought I'd give it a go this year. However lengths of guttering are not cheap, I'd also need to buy end stops to. Then I'd have to cut them into manageable lengths, usually about 1metre long. I would have to carry them the length of the garden to put them into the car and drive to the allotment and carry them from car to the right bit of allotment. This sounds like a recipe for disaster! I have come up with a shorter, cheaper more portable alternative. I have used 2 litre fizzy drink bottles instead of guttering. Cut off the top and bottom because they are too thick to cut through without some powered device. Cut in half lengthways (if you look carefully there are seams which will act as guide lines), snip small holes in the bottom of the 'gutter', place both halves into a seed tray, pushed close to one end to keep the compost in place. Then part fill with compost, put in about 14 seeds evenly spaced and cover with compost then lightly water. I planted 84 seeds the other day!

The first days digging

I have at last managed to venture down the allotment to do some work, there is a lot to do. I am still waiting for the rotavating to be done but the potatoes are sprouting and I need to get their beds ready. So I got to work with my trusty stainless steel fork, it is like a hot knife through butter. As usual I think I was alone down there, can't see all the plots but I think nobody else had ventured out. Sometimes I am happy just to listen to the birds, if I have company I will chat but quite often I have music playing on my (borrowed) mp3 player. There is quite an assortment of music on it, lots of greatest hits of different decades or driving rock ballads and some sound tracks from films and shows, things to get you moving. To this I have added some of my own favourites. Needless to say it is a good job I am often alone down there as I sing along to the greatest hits of T.Rex.

Cageless fruit cage

Today I started working at quite a speed, one Bolan song per width of allotment, at first anyway. Either I slowed down or the songs were got shorter but it finished up with two or three songs per width! I think it was shorter songs, well it was the earlier acoustic stuff. After an hour of digging I decided to have a breather and so took the netting off the fruit cage, should have done it before the snows I know! I have discovered a new pet hate (along with wire coat hangers and chewing gum) it is plastic netting. The dreadful stuff grabs hold of every twig it can find whenever you try to gather and roll it up. It is also not

Evil netting

very environmentally friendly so I will stop using it in the future. I will not be using the plastic mesh bean supports again for the same reasons. Having had a breather from digging and run out of T.Rex I had a change of genre and went back to digging with renewed (although short lived) energy. I changed to a new favourite, a surprise one too as it is Scottish pipe and drum music! I grew up hating traditional pipes & drums but this is very different full of energy and passion. Check out Clanadonia (http://www.clanadonia.co.uk/) on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN1wOQ1u9EA and you will hear why I was revitalised and dancing around the allotment – sorry to the dog walkers who passed by! (Whilst looking for the video clip I've found another band very similar called Albannach, will investigate further....) If I am not singing and dancing along to music I am speaking a foreign language, Italian has made way for Czech which is a very difficult language full of consonants in the wrong places, even saying good morning will be a challenge!

May be edible

I finished off by digging up the parsnips I had missed when I last did some digging before Christmas when I was coming down with 'flu.  

Unruly Lonicera

Back at home I have also been busy pruning. Well there was this Lonicera it was overshadowing the rhubarb and choking a holly tree. It isn't any more! Just look at the pictures, I ran amuck with loppers and a pruning saw and now no more unruly Lonicera.  

Unburied Holly

You may think I'd been listening to some mega heavy metal while I did this but no, it was a long planned attack and took very little time so no music was used. The huge Spirea billardii triumphans has been cut down ready for reducing to a manageable size and freeing up some more border for me to plant fuchsias!

Well I think I'm going to be quite busy over the coming weeks, hopefully I'll have time to keep up the blog. I don't think anybody has noticed that I didn't post anything last week! Phew!