Friday, 8 April 2016

Fail Forwards, Keep Failing. Raised Beds 6&7 (I think)

I haven't failed t all really, in fact, I got quite a lot done today. But as the day went on, and I got more physically tired, I made a few mistakes and a day that should have ended well, just made me want to go home and sob in the bath. I am so tired, and so sore.
So today, I finished digging over two clay soil beds (that's a huge achievement, I think) before scattering with that claybreaker stuff. The topmost bed on the slope was so bound with bramble roots,  as well as concrete hard soil, that I had to keep my secateurs handy, as I couldn't lift out the roots with a fork, rather having to loosen them after cutting through. Again, I couldn't break the heavy clay sods of muck up either. I was hoping to put the compost and the manure over them today too but the compost hadn't arrived and I wanted to put both on in layers, rather than just the manure because I thought it would just dry out. I don't, in hindsight, think it matters very much. I drilled the supports for my two terraced heavy clay beds. I also prepared two raised beds up to screwing together stage, and even started to put half of one together, but it didn't go too well... not only did the screws stop sinking into the wood (no, I don't know either - the planks for these are very thick so I used bigger screws. Maybe I didn't drill a wide enough hole to start with). Then unthinking, I grabbed the end of one screw that the drill had failed to sink, without remembering that it would be burning hot. And so I burnt my thumb and forefinger. It still hurts (insert crying emoji here).
View of the offending beds.
At this point, my day was sort of over. I did my daily ritual of trying to have a quick tidy up, peering into the compost bins and pulling up a few fresh brambles etc, but five hours is enough. The worst thing, though, apart from having to carry the drillbox (a cordless drill and a spare battery, so heavy) home after all that digging and building, was walking to the allotment gate, which is at the top of a fairly steep gradient, to find the lock which sticks sometimes, wouldn't unlock at all. I fiddled with it for a few minutes with my burnt digits and then, back down, and then up an even steeper, even longer hill to the next gate along. The lock was fine there. Obviously.
And now, having sat down for a bit, my tired muscles have locked up and I can barely move. For this reason, I have not put the mini greenhouse up.I better had, before the courgette seedlings start banging their heads against the propagator ceiling. But not tonight - I'm going to have a break from growing enthusiasm for the night. It's the safest thing.




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