The joys of bare soil
I'm off to rotavate my allotment after I've written this. The wet weather has delayed me getting on with it and I've been itching to get out there and blitz the beds ready for sowing. There's nothing like clearing the wreckage of winter - the dead leaves, spent chard and sprawling chickweed that colonises where winter cabbage once grew and piling in fresh compost. The 'before-and-after' of the beds is the most dramatic garden makeover going.
Assuming I can get the big yellow beast to wake from hibernation, my second-hand rotavator should have the job done by lunch. This is by no-means a certainty as it's about as reliable as a wet paper bag. Last time it wouldn't start. I tried everything from changing the oil to replacing the fuel to finally beating it Basil Fawlty-style with a stick. Eventually, I had to wheel it away to a garage for the clogged carburettor to get treated. It came back and the exhaust fell off, then the starter rope snapped and just when I thought nothing else could go wrong the handle bars broke in two. It cost me more to fix in one season than it did to buy! All in all a very expensive bargain.
Then I'm back in the garden to lament the damage that the weather has done. I've read that a third of all tender plants in the southwest have been killed by the cold and my garden is no exception. So like everyone who gambled on winters getting warmer I've the unhappy task of going around the beds scraping away at the frost-blackened stems looking for signs of life - if I see green sap there's a hope of recovery if not I'll have to hoik out the plant and fork in compost for something else.
Funny thing that. Bare soil in the borders is a disappointment but at the allotment it fills me with hope.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~01~RS~)
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How exciting! We just started clearing our garden in preparation for planting some seed potatoes. It's a little late in the season for us, but it's also been so dry here, so we hope neither of those things will count against us too much. Good luck with a great growing season!
San Antonio Doula
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Yes it is great to start the gardening year and the last few days of milder weather has been lovely to get out and catch up.
Sadly I have been unable to garden for some years I have been ill with Lyme disease for 6 years. After 2 years antibiotics I am much recovered and can for the first time in 3 1/2 years walk upstairs which means this is going to be a wonderful year for me in the garden.
Please can Gardener's World do something to raise awareness of this devastating illness. See Charity website for details
www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk
I know Horticulturalists and Forestry workers are warned of the dangers but not we hobby gardeners. Had I known then a few weeks antibiotics could have prevented 6 years of debilitating and painfull arthritis and muscle weakness.
The charity is in touch with many people in all parts of UK sufferring with this illness all mis diagnosed with many other things ME/CFS, PolyMyalgia Rheumatica, Fibromyalgia in my case but others can end up with stroke, heart block, neurological problems, psychiatric probems the list is endless. Some people's immune systems seem to cope and they produce antibodies to fight it off without any signs of illness but other people like other illnesses can suffer badly.
Please do something to raise awareness and find out what is happening by reading the above website.
This year I will be enjoying gardening more than anyone else can possibly do.
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Hi Toby,
Yes your right. Nothing like freshly dug over black soil cleared of weeds after a long winter.
I tidied up my border edging aswell as prune, hoe and plant perenials last weekend. Oh and i cut the grass.
great to be out doors again.
James
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Yes I'm with you on this. WE've just moved into a new house and the garden's been fully decked so I can't to pull up most of the decking and do some growing. Am a bit of a tradionalist when it comes to gardens. Lawns and borders for me over decking any day.
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