28th Oct - Enough beds for a hostelry

Sunday morning and a sunny one. The heavens had opened for days and after the quagmire I'd left the day before, I didn't have much hopes on the ground being stable enough for us to complete dressing the final beds.

Arriving at the allotment, armed as always with a flask of coffee, we were surprised to find that everything hadn't washed away and were mighty glad of the flag stone path running down the centre of the plot. With the help of Jez, Si and I divvied out the remaining bags of compost and soil conditioner.

There's a surprising amount of satisfaction sticking a spade edge into a bag, upturning it and emptying all the contents into a bed. A sense of achievement and winning against the seemingly unbeatable weeds. Sure enough, soon the compost and conditioner had been evenly raked onto the soil, ready for the worms to drag it deeper and frost to break up the soil even further than our rotivating efforts.

A job well done and I am thankful to Amy and Jez for volunteering to help me dig even if I did bribe them with hot meals, visits to the pub and cider.

Simon has been the most supportive partner, helping me dig, by building beds and sheds (I could have done it of course but it would have taken a long time, I'd have botched and cut corners and Simon wouldn't have been able to stand by and watch). The building doesn't quite finish here. Knowing that I'd also wanted to grow flowers to help encourage as many bees as possible, and seeing that my best laid plans now didn't really give room for another bed, my lovely husband built me not 1 but 4 flower beds, right in the cross-section so I can enjoy the fragrance, bees will be happy, veg will be pollinated and all will be well in Tahiti...it's a magical place x