Day 3:
After Clare provided me with a hearty breakfast, I headed back to the plot. Today was all about turning sod - an unpleasant but necessary job. Well, perhaps "unpleasant" is misleading - it's more tough, hard graft than unpleasant.
Work started quickly, and then slowed as I got tired. After about an hour, I was granted a reprieve, when Clare showed up with the kids. She headed off to the garden centre to buy some veg, and left Thomas with me. I eased up, and spent some time playing with him. He had his tools with him, and loved playing about in the dirt - "helping" Daddy.
Clare arrived back a short time later, and brought me a cup of coffee, providing me with a shot of some much needed energy. Then it was time for her to bring the kids home for lunch - in Thomas's case, kicking and screaming.
I carried on, and had another dent in the job by the time I went home for food myself:
When I came back after lunch, I carried on. The biggest challenge I found was actually finding somewhere to leave the sod I had dug up - I had created quite a mound on one end of the plot, and I eventually needed to begin a second one. The wisdom handed down to me is that these mounds will in time rot into good topsoil. I'll most likely leave one, and remove the other.
I kept at it. It was hard going, and I found myself going through cycles of working well and just wanting to give up (in these times, a quick break and swig of water helped me get back on track).
The other challenge, if it can be so called, was cutting through little hillocks of soil. These seemed to consist of mostly root and stone, and took longer for me to clear away.
At half six, the evening darkening into twilight, I called it a day. I hadn't done as much as I'd like, but what I've done I can now put behind me:
1 comment:
Thomas looks to be enjoying himself.
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