Famous last words: 'How hard can it be?'

I spent little time on the plot this week. I went down daily, to hoe up the eternal bindweed and couch grass and to top up the slug pellets that hoeing displaced. But that, for reasons I don't fully get, was that. I think that my enthusiasm was dampened somewhat by the result of sprinkling those pellets about - the gross, fly ridden, slimy mat of dead slugs that surrounded every green crop. To be clear, I don't want to use pellets at all, they make me feel awful, but after chatting to fellow allotmenteers that can't tell me of anything else, not beer traps, not wool pellets nor nematodes, that seem to protect their plants, and looking at the sheer number of slugs on the plot, I feel like its all I can do for now. I will put some beer traps down, when I remember, but the other night I put out the only comfrey plant I've managed to grow from seed, in what I perceived as 'out of reach', only to find the leaves munched fully away after one night in the wild, my slugs apparently not completely distracted by courgettes, spinach, runner beans and strawberry plants (got a bite out of all those too).

So today, I thought I would make my day count - and I spent about 5 hours on the plot, but god only knows where the time went, because I cannot see that I did 5 hours worth of work - maybe I did, maybe the hoeing and watering really does take that long. I planted out my purple sprouting broccoli in my brassicas bed, Had to fix the netting/plastic frame combo. Took ages. Planted some French bean seeds and pea sticks- could have been a quick job, but tripped and spilt the bean seeds everywhere. Nice work. I sawed a load of planks for my outdoor storage box, but still have eight to go *snore*, tried to move the wheelie bin/water butt but the previous resident had weighted it down with a flagstone and with the water in it, I couldn't even tip it. I did shift a load of heavy stones I couldn't quite work out the function of (these are two things that make me wish I wasn't quite so alone in this) and then I put my  newly fixed azada to work, cutting back a load of couch grass. It would have been quicker with a strimmer, but the azada is fine. In fact, faced with the ludicrous noise the site was filled with by just two people and their strimmers this afternoon, I'm glad I never got one. I'd hate myself. (Ponders if this is true. Yes. It is.)

So, I may not feel like I've achieved too much today but I have laid the groundwork for tomorrow. I can finish sawing the wood for the lid of my box and then I can attach the sides together. I can lay down some cardboard/weed suppressant fabric on the bed I uncovered today, and I can maybe put out my sweetcorn in cloches tomorrow (although, it doesn't look very healthy, it won't get any better languishing in my mini-g). Another hoe, another water and I can be done for the day. That's only about three hours, right?