Rotavation Motivation

We had a very interesting day at the allotment today. For starters we found a hammer and an empty quail shell that had been thrown on to our plot which caused a bit of a mystery.

The swede seedlings have all been eaten unfortunately and not enough remains of them for me to work out what got them, there aren't any slug/snail trails.

The tree that towers over the front part of the allotment has showered the entire area we have cleared with sycamore helicopters which is slightly demotivating and the combination of sunshine and showers over the last week has meant that there are a lot of new weeds popping up, mostly dandelion which is odd because there were hardly any before!

The large area that I used chemicals on has died down so I've been clearing as much of that as I can. I didn't spray as evenly as I'd thought so a lot of it still had to be pulled quite hard.

I've been finding the most bizarre things whilst clearing that we didn't even see when the weeds were full height - a fork with no handle, a bucket full of broken glass, bricks - enough to build another shed if I wanted to!

We took our first break at 10.30am and two men popped their heads over the gate and started asking questions. I thought this to be quite odd as I had no idea who they were and they didn't bother to introduce themselves but instead chose to make jokes about how we were slacking off - cheeky sods, we'd been there since 9! It turns out that they have been contracted by the council to clear some of the plots because people are turning them down as they're too overgrown. I stood there open mouthed for a while, listening, as one of the men told me that if I'd kicked up a stink I could have had the plot cleared for me for free!!!! I lost my motivation for a while after hearing this news, I felt like I was breaking my back for nothing but then I thought about what I'm learning and the exercise I'm getting, how I can show off when we compare a photo of two weeks ago to one next summer and be proud of ourselves. I was also pretty pleased with myself that I've stuck with it - a hardcore allotment holder - when others have refused to carry on until the council sorts it for them. I also have a bigger than average plot (insert smug face!).

So I carried on working, pleased with myself.

I cleared 6 garden refuse sacks with dead buttercups, dock, blackberry branches and other things I couldn't identify and as I put the last bag in the skip I bumped into "the boss", Ronnie. We said hello and then he shook his head and said "look here.." and I thought I must be in big trouble for filling half the skip :o/ then he proceeded to inform me about the situation with the council paying for clearing sites and said that mine wasn't included but that if I cleared my plot of large rocks and wood etc then he'll send the man in to rotavate my plot anyway - hurrah!!! I am very pleased about that as when I've been clearing the weeds towards the middle and back of the allotment I've found that the ground is VERY uneven leaving some places boggy.

After a picnic lunch I set about clearing bricks and planks and all sorts of things in preparation for the rotavating which was heavy work. My ipod was my friend during this, angry music worked well, and I cleared quite a lot whilst contemplating whether I was going to have weird tan lines where my gardening gloves were so that I'd end up with brown arms and white hands.

Cameron has been busying himself by digging a big hole - for jumping up and down in at first - and then he wants to put together a time capsule and bury it. Sounds like a good plan to me so I left him to get on with it, apart from times when I was asked to stand next to him so he could gauge how far down he had dug.

On the way out of the allotment, making our way to the shop for a well earned ice-cream, we bumped into someone from a nearby plot who spent a good 5 minutes praising us and telling us how well we are doing - music to my ears! It's really great to hear that people think we are doing a good job, especially as I'm quite shy about my gardening inexperience - I always expect people are murmuring "she'll never last" to each other after we go past!