A different way to help the garden birds

On Friday I took receipt of an enormous pile of manure.  Well, not literally a pile, actually it came in white sealed bags and was neatly stacked up behind my shed by the nice chap who delivered it to me.  Also in the order was some mulch, which I thought would go some way to keeping my raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries and apple trees nice and snug while giving them a good feed at the same time.

So forty sixty litre bags and one aching back later I stood on my allotment in the -1c weather admiring my delivery and pondered how good it would feel to be back at home having a hot cup of tea.  I don't think there was another person on the entire allotment site that morning:  it was still, quiet and cold but incredibly peaceful, and, I started to think, a bit of a shame to leave so early on such a great day. And then my eyes set upon my unruly autumn raspberry patch and I thought, in the time-honoured tradition of the obsessive gardener, wouldn't it be great to weed and mulch that? It was all the excuse I needed.

Throughout this session, and for the last few, I have been visited by a male robin venturing closer each week. At first, he would just sing to me from a distance, but then he started coming closer and closer until, on Friday, he landed just a few inches from my hands.  What a striking little beauty and he was so close that I could see individual downy feathers on his chest as he breathed.  I stayed very, very still, and he jumped over to me on his tiny legs looking closely at the ground, coming up with a big, fat worm.  And then I realised that, on a cold day when the earth is frozen, he was using the opportunity of the disturbed soil to get himself a bit of a snack.  And he kept on, appearing every ten minutes or so, waiting patiently for me to stop my work before he would leap right in to continue his meal of worms and other goodies.  What a lovely, and different, way to help the garden birds in the cold weather.

Two hours later, the patch was weeded and covered by a thick layer of black mulch and my satisfaction was immense.  I can only imagine that the robin felt the same way.

extreme gardening

I just love gardening in the cold, dreary weather.  Trudging on to my allotment on a grey autumn morning, no one else in sight on site, gives me an intense feeling of satisfaction.  I am there, no matter the weather, often alone on site, in the quiet rain, fog, winds or cold, and I relish it. Because I am getting a start on the 2015 season, prepping the beds and doing all those jobs (and creating a few on the way) that I don't normally have time to do during the high season.  Just bliss.  So this week I am organising a manure delivery, digging trenches for kitchen waste to be added week by week over the winter to improve the soil, putting the beds to bed.  And I might just treat myself to removing the grass from the main path, neatly putting down breathable fabric and gently laying some woodchip on top, all the better to walk through the plot next year ... Update after the weekend.