More Gardening Adventures- The Limping Edition

Yesterday I had the misfortune of dropping a large wooden rolling pin on my foot.  It fell end first off the kitchen table and has left me with a bruised, swollen and painful right foot.  I may have broken a small bone in the aforementioned foot but am stubbornly limping about in denial of my damaged foot.

However, there was the small matter of our regular garden session to attend to and I was not going to let a ore foot stand in the way.  My friend Lucy and I have been the only ones working on the garden for the last couple of sessions so I felt duty bound to attend.  It has been a bit of a "Little Red Hen" story for 3 sessions now with only 2 of us dilligently tending to the garden.  Despite Lucy badly burning her thumb at lunchtime we soldiered on and managed to double dig two beds and cover one in topsoil we were given by a neighbour.  We trekked it over one wheelbarrow at a time. 

We also managed to plant out one bed with cabbages and onions after making sure plenty of manure was dug through, along with some egg shells under each plant to deter slugs and provide calcium which cabbages love.  We also sprinkled eggshells around each cabbage plant that has so far managed to deter slugs on the other bed of brassicas.  There are at least 6 frogs and a large toad that we have spotted so I hope they are feasting on slugs before they get to our plants.

Here's the result of our 3 hours of hard work this afternoon:

We have a lot of work still to be done.  There are another 3 beds that need clearing and compost dug through ready to be covered over for the winter so that they are ready for planting in the Spring.  There are some leeks, chard and rhubarb in the beds, surrounded by copious amounts of weeds.  Once we are able to harvest the leeks we shall also move the rhubarb crowns and chard to the lovely prepared bed that is currently empty.  Next week we shall be weeding, clearing and then digging in 12 huge bags of compost that are being delivered later this week.



The rest of the beds that need sorting out.

We are looking forward to next week, ripping out weeds and digging in compost.  The soil is really hard and clumpy so we spend quite a bit of time breaking up large clumps of soil and trying to ensure that it is aerated and fine enough for plants to take root in.  Gardening is an excellent workout and we feel like we have been working hard the next day with sore muscles and feeling rather tired.  It is really fab exercise in the Autumn sun and the best bit will be when we harvest our produce that we have nurtured.

We also planted out some of the seedlings in my backyard on Saturday evening, compete with sprinkles of egg shells.  My 2 girls helped with the planting and we are looking forward to devouring more kale, tatsoi and purple sprouting broccoli.  We have more greens planted in the flower beds and in other containers around the back yard that are keeping us in greens until these ones grow big enough to harvest.

Anyone else gardening at home, at a communal garden or have an allotment?  What are your top tips?

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