Tuesday 9 April 2013

52 down!

Fifty two spuds in the ground. Two rows. Thought the six I had prepared would be enough for the amount of potatoes we have to plant. It will not be. Two more rows need to be trenched. 

And a thought: what the hell possessed us to buy two bags when one would have done. But it was February, and since there was a distance in time of several weeks before the planting could be done, well, I suppose that we were carrying an enthusiasm for veg plot gardening because we could, because it was winter, because we couldn't go out and dig, because we could day dream about getting out on the veg plot, because we are smallholders, because we want to grow our own food, because we are daft. 

However, all the bad weather has given me a stiffness of the back because I have been sitting for a lot of hours at my computer, rendering me bent over when I walk, and irritable because I have sciatica. An hour planting spuds sorted all that out. The contortions needed to clamber in and out of the trenches, which weren't war-time deep, but felt like it as I got in and out of them, bending over to mulch, plant potato, mulch again, bit of fertiliser, cover all, with wind blowing, but no rain, not at that moment anyway, well, all those aches and pains went, so well done for the exercise Vera, you might have collapsed into a heap when you got back indoors, but you did get rid of the sciatica, even though you now have aching arms through trying to make trenches in water sodden ground with a blunt hoe. 

And God bless Lester who came and helped me make a trench, but he did that with a spade which just made for solid chunks of soil rather than the fine tilth that one should have if one is working one one's very own super duper veg plot. Fortunately it came on to rain so we had to call time on the spud planting project, but not before I went down Lester's spade dug trench and thwacked those clods of earth into smaller sized pieces, knowing full well that the sun will shine eventually and that when it does those clods will bake themselves into solid lumps which the growing potato plants will not appreciate being squashed under when they are earthed over. 

I have planted those potatoes with better care than those in the past. In previous years they have been dropped into holes with  nothing other than the bare soil to grow in. This year I have taken notice of helpful hints found on the Internet, so the ******s had better grow. 

...so did have a minimal surge of energy yesterday, although it was not sustainable. Hopefully a proper surge will happen soon..... we still have all the seeds and the rest of the spuds (approx 140) to plant. Off now to dig up a couple of spoonfuls of compost from the now defunct compost heap after the chickens took charge of it a while ago, but I might be lucky to get something out of the ground upon which the compost heap once stood.

Actually, I am not going to do that, because Sara and Paul down the lane have just invited us for a drink, and then I am off to choir. Heyho, that's me done with smallholding today!

11 comments:

The Squirrel Family said...

Well done on finding the energy, we have all been there......longing for spring and spending too long in the garden centre/ gazing at seed catalogues

enjoy your evening and hope the aches and pains stay away

Zimbabwe said...

You are doing better than us! I planted a few a couple of weeks back, but the main bulk are growing madly in the barn. The bed is saturated and impossible to work in at the moment!! The onions are also in dire need of planting! Keep well Diane

Horst in Edmonton said...

Good luck on planting the rest of the Garden. It's too bad you don't have a rotovator. That way you could get the soil broken down. What you may what to do in fall is to incorporate a whole lot of wood shavings into the soil to loosen the soil in spring. The people with lots of horse use wood shavings in the stalls to keep the stalls clean. That's what they use here anyway. Easier to clean with shovels.

rusty duck said...

Exercise does help.. I dug over both new veg beds yesterday and felt so much better for it.
Good luck with the rest of the spuds..

Vera said...

The Squirrel Family, nothing like gardening for getting rid of the old aches and pains and giving one new ones to replace them!

Diane, most of the 52 potatoes planted were romping away, but the rest are 'quieter', which they need to be because we have just had another soaking of rain!

Horst, hi. We do have a rotovator but it is not powerful enough to do a proper job. It is only a year old but already falling to pieces! Not to worry, at least we have got a lot of soil tilled, although it is clumpy, but we do have animal bedding to clean out of the animal pens soon, so that will be put onto the soil next winter. Good idea about the shavings, although it is straw we put down for our animals.

Jessica, wow, so you had a surge yesterday as well! Lets hope our energy keeps going because the days are galloping away with themselves and some of us (me that is) have not planted one single seed yet!

Leon Sims said...

Like tatties - exercise is good for you. Might feel older for it but younger with more of it.

Niall & Antoinette said...

Well done with the spuds. We don't grow our own veg -- we have very heavy clay soil and the thought of dealing with it has put us off.
With all the recent rain we again have little puddles which means mowing the grass with the ride-on mower is postponed ... and the grass is getting lush :-(

However, forecast for next week is much more like it so me might be able to start tidying up properly after winter.

The Broad said...

Vera, I think you are quite wonderful! I know exactly what you mean about the 'clumps'! My husband always like to edge the beds after I've done all the weeding -- leaving great big clumps of grassy stuff over the top of my nice clean earth. I don't want him not to do it, but at the same time there is the urge to 'throttle'!

Vera said...

Leon & Sue, well I feel older today but hopefully will feel younger tomorrow after planting a few more of those spuds!

Niall & Antoinette, oh how sensible you are to ride around on your lawnmower to cut your grass! Wish I was just as sensible, but no, it is a scythe for me because the lawnmower is not 'meaty' enough to cope with potholes and hillocks! We are lush here too!

The Broad, Oh dear! I bet you have to go do something else when your husband is being so helpful! Fortunately it started to rain just as he was making headway with making a fearsome looking row of clumps, so he had to stop! Whooppeee!

Tim said...

We haven't even started to put them in the ground...
ploughed the patch and raked it over...
now waiting for a spell of dry to start...
the Red Dukes are, as you describe, romping!!
Well...
they are first earlies...
they should have been in by Good Friday...
hohumm!

We have had 36mm of rain here so far this month...
and the meadow is once again awash!!

Bonney Chance for the coming Summer [don't know which year it will be coming, tho']

Vera said...

Hi Tim, at last it looks like we are in for a patch of sunshine so it will be all systems go. Hope you going to have some of this sunshine as well so you can your potatoes in, and everything else as well!