There are 12 beds! They’re not completely finished, and there is a lot of digging to do, but the basic structures are there so we’ve definitely broken the back of what turned out to be a bit of a major undertaking…
We had a long day of it today, in mild but grey weather and against a backdrop of mild anxiety about the Covid-19 pandemic that’s dominating the news at the moment.
I’ve got several colleagues out of action / self-isolating with symptoms, so it seems pretty likely I’ve been exposed to it too. It’s weird, thinking you might be carrying a virus that could kill someone but not actually feeling at all unwell yourself. For now, we are carrying on pretty much as normal, apart from skipping contact with our elderly friend who really could do without a nasty virus on top of everything else she has to contend with.
Yesterday, after a day working at home and after what felt like a really long working week, we nipped up to the plot for an hour and made 2 more beds where I had prepared the ground last weekend. It was completely lovely to get outside for a bit at the end of a day of calls and emails; it lifted me up and helped me calm down a bit after a fairly intense week. Any time outside at this time of the year, while it’s still dark, rainy and grey most of the time I’m not working, feels like a really special stolen treat. Especially on a working day, when I wouldn’t normally get the chance. I love it.
Today I learned that B&Q has stopped stocking the decking boards we’ve been using to build the raised beds. They simply no longer exist on their website, which teaches me (not for the first time) that you should really buy everything you need for a project before you start. Trouble is, I underestimated how much wood we’d need for terracing, ie 2 planks at the front of each bed and only 1 at the back. So this morning we did a tour of south London’s exciting range of B&Qs, fortunately finding a few of the boards we needed left over at the second one we visited. We filled the car with wood, the longer boards poking out through the sunroof, and headed over to the plot (via lunch at the local cafe).
It took us a few trips back and forth to get all the wood from the car to the plot, but we’ve finally now got everything we need to finish off the raised beds. Brilliant.
We managed to get the last two beds done this afternoon and then spent a bit of time pottering around, clearing weeds, doing a bit of light digging and hammering in pegs and attaching them to the long sides. There had been another delivery of chipped wood at the gate to the allotments, so we took a few barrowfuls to top up the paths between the beds. I love the way the paths look when they’ve got fresh woodchip on them. It also smells ammazing – Spruce or some such lovely-scented thing.
In other news: the plum tree is blossoming, the daffodils are out and I saw a bee buzzing around a broad bean plant. None of the seeds at the plot have germinated yet, but the ones in the coldframe have now all germinated, and so far they haven’t been slug ravaged. They’re not near being ready to plant out yet, but it won’t be long before they’re outgrowing their tiny pots and trays so I really do need to get a move on digging the rest of the beds (only 5 out of the 12 are actually ready for use…).
I’ve ordered some nematodes to apply to the plot next weekend, to try and keep the slug damage to a minimum during the early seedling season. It’s expensive (around £30 for enough to cover the whole plot), but I think it’s worth it as it’s so disheartening and wasteful when baby plants get decimated just as they’re getting going. I do occasionally use slug pellets when things are really bad, but I really prefer not to. Nematodes seem like the least cruel / polluting way of dealing with this perennial problem.
I was feeling pretty wound up when we headed out this morning. Having spent the day mostly outside, lugging wood about, digging and building, Things are unfurling, the light is changing, the days are getting longer and it feels almost warm when the sun pokes its head out as it did briefly this afternoon. I feel 100 times better, calmer, more grounded for it. It’s *this feeling* that I need to remember when I feel like I’m too tired / stressed / busy / apathetic to get my arse up to the plot. If only it were that straightforward, hey?
Keeping the Plot 