Raised by Hand

I'm going to resist the temptation to go over my various aches and pains again. They are obvious by now, aren't they? I will say though, this morning I did not think I was going to get to the allotment because my arms and hands hurt so much when I built my mini greenhouse first thing (Yes, I finally built it; I changed my strategy from 'build it when you get home' to 'build it when you get up'). 

I don't want to do any more drilling for a while.

After lunch, though, I knew I had to go and get on with it - I needed to cover my clay beds with the manure/claybreaker/compost cure and I didn't want to wait any longer - I'm supposed to leave it for  a month after all- and I was also keen to finish the raised beds. Maybe keen isn't the right word. It was with an air of pained inevitability that I contemplated the situation. Well, I did the beds and the compost. The compost/manure, didn't go that far and I think I probly have to get about triple the amount (about 300l in total) to cover the beds the way I have seen suggested on the internet. Heavy clay soil is pretty expensive to break down, eh? Also, I've burnt through all the free soil in the big sacks that came with the plot, so everything I decide to grow now is going to have to be costed on a price per sq meter of growing medium. How depressing.

But, if the clay beds can be made to co-operate, I do have eight beds now, and an additional 2 under cover with potential for digging over. That's enough, even if they're not very big. When I write it down like that, I feel like I've achieved a lot in a very short time. 

I need to start planting soon. I have root veg seeds that can be sowed now, with fleece or whatever, and seedlings that are in real need of being potted on. I'm not going to allow a trip to the plot tomorrow, so at least there is stuff that I can do at home. Time for a hot bath and a vat of wine.