Every year it's the same; I promise myself in Autumn that I'll keep Haddock's weed-free over Winter, so that it's so much easier to rotovate the following Spring.
Do I do it? Of course I don't!
So, each Spring I have to do all this bloody back-breaking digging to bring it back to a usable state again. Luckily we've been promised a few weeks of fine weather, so I'm taking it easy. I'm also showing Lady Magnon how it's done, but she doesn't seem too adept so far! I even explained how good garden soil is for her finger nails, but......
I shan't start any sowing or planting until late April, even into May, so I have plenty of time. But I need to see it all clean, tidy, and composted, well in advance; my brain insists on as much.
At the moment I just pop up occasionally and dig a couple of rows; my back doesn't allow much more.
N.B. For the new garden up at the séchoir (barn), I've already designed a plot with an open-able end that would allow a tractor to enter. A reasonable sized veg-patch could be ploughed in about 10 minutes; to turn mine 'brown side up' will take me more than a back-breaking week.
25 comments:
I can empathise with the 'bad back' issue, Cro, :/
Dreadful, isn't it!
I see you are using a spade……it is hard to get a fork into our soil! Stony/clay…impossible in parts, as I am not heavy enough..though I am working on that!
I must have missed your post about the plot near the barn. What's to do here then? What are you going to grow?
Gill
I also suffer from a bad back, Cro. Number one son dug over my veg patch with our Smalley digger in an hour the other day. There's a lot to be said for making things easier on the veg plot.
Haddock's (above) is MY veg garden. It's where I grow all my vegs. Summer vegs include toms, courgettes, peppers, and aubergines, and winter vegs include kale, chard, cavolo nero, sprouts, psb, onions, and butternuts.
I really need a tiny tractor and plough.
I've just come in from another spot of digging, and I've noticed that ours is drying out. We need to get it done quickly, or it'll be like concrete.
That spade is on its last legs; I have to order another on line!
I sympathise with the urge to get things done in the garden and the agony of the resultant bad back. A little tractor sounds a good idea. The grandchildren will love it!
Digging is out of the question for me now - raised beds are the answer no digging required - just a little light forking.
You are going to pay a price either way you go, the cost of a small tractor or a worse back. Buying a tractor seems the least painful. Back pain is the worst.
I seem to have the same condition my man, tis truly annoying this onset of bodily decay.
I've put off going down the lottie yet as I can only imagine the aches and pains I'll have the next day!
I'm suffering in silence (like hell).
No rototiller?
Yes, but the soil needs to be worked first. It won't work on rock solid soil.
No self-respecting paysan should be without a large red tractor!
Unfortunately there's no longer an entry point for a tractor; hence the bloody digging. I should have organised things better, that's why I'm planning ahead for the new garden (with tractor access).
A suggestion from an old gardener, you need a spade with a much longer handle. The proper length being when you push the blade into the soil the tip of the handle should hit squarely in the Solar Plexus. It will make digging much easier.
I so sympathize with your back problem and hope you take good care not to over do the digging. The bending over bit can be soooo hazardous!
Actually I find the English style spades much better. I have the other type also, but am just about to buy an English 'Spear and Jackson' replacement for my old one (in the picture), which is about to go to gardening heaven.
Haddocks is looking good. Take it easy with your back though.
That's a good bit of digging Cro, but watch that back!
Get a fork!
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