As I mentioned in a previous blog, I am NOT making a New Years resolution this year (2011), more of a New Years resolve! I resolve to living life to the full. Saying ‘yes’ far more often and letting myself indulge in the arts and crafts that bring me so much joy. Because this can often lead to long periods of inactivity I’ve joined the local health club and have started cultivating our allotment at long last.
Yesterday was day one of the mission in terms of the real work that needs to be done on the allotment. The allotment that we’ve been given has stood unused for a couple of years and this had left the soil almost unworkable and almost completely grasses. It was the complete opposite yesterday and on several occasions we had to lift the cultivator out of a small quagmire. All in a day, hey!
Adrian fought the battle of Man .v. Machine yesterday and had just got it licked by the time we were handing it back and he finally let go of the handle bars!! I didn’t get a look in other than describing the start-up procedure in terms of going about starting a motorbike on a cold morning and I think that helped his starting technique (!) and earned me some kudos points!
The most amazing sensation was the ‘job’ satisfaction. Looking over the allotment and being able to see, for the first time, all of the available land being made ready for the new growing season. We have a plan of what we want to do with the space and hope to get it somewhere near that by the end of this month (January 2011). I haven’t really considered anything about plant choices, having been fully embroiled in the design of the allotment. As we sat and developed the picture Adrian started to announce what we were growing and where with a high degree of certainty! All of his choices are perennials to avoid any ongoing labour… I appreciate his thinking in some ways (creating a kind of luxury allotment), but I also want to have some beds to plant stuff in that appeals to me! One of my jobs today is to pick the stuff I want to grow on the allotment, so there will be some sunflowers and probably a buddleia for the butterflies and some carrots, sprouts and lettuces!
There… job done! Now what’s next?
I’m off to finish creating my craft studio’s airbrush booth. Very exciting! Not one episode of Blue Peter was lost on me… Now then, where did I put that sticky back plastic????
xxx
