Today was a gorgeous day. The sun shone all day and the weather was warm (sorry if you had rain). It was the perfect weather to get in the garden and start my plan of action. I loved my allotment, but there were some things that were a little hard to deal with. Firstly the toilet facilities. Now I’m very particular when it comes to a loo. I like comfort, privacy, and dry toilet paper. It’s not much to ask for is it? There was a portaloo on the allotment site, which often didn’t work, and usually smelt bad, the loo roll was damp and the door was facing in the direction where everyone could see you go in and come out. Also, there was no shade, which is great for the plants, but when you want to sit down and have a rest, it’s always nice to grab a bit of shade. Cold drinking water on tap was also something that you couldn’t get. If you took a bottle of water down to the allotment with you, then it always warmed up in the sun, and therefore didn’t quench your thirst. At home there is lovely cool water on tap when ever you want it,  being able to just pop in the garden for about 30 minutes is so wonderful, also being able to sit in the shade and rest, and possibly pop to a lovely private loo when needed is such a joy. Needless to say I’m a very happy lady.

Today I decided I would start clearing the bed on the right hand side of the garden. When we moved in, it was half covered by the shade from the tall conifer trees in the neighbouring garden, so at the back, by the fence, not much would grow. At the front of the bed there were a variety of shrubs, which had all been left to go a little wild. Now the trees have been cut back and only the trunks are showing the full bed has been revealed. There are also lots of weeds growing in the bed, and especially thistles. The soil is covered with a thick layer of conifer needles, and there is ivy trailing everywhere. This is going to take a few days to sort. It will eventually be where the raised bed for all my soft fruits will going. This includes strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, a variety of currents and all sorts of other fruits that I have.

I worked solidly for most of the morning, then the kids and I had lunch and watched half of a film, and then I continued in the afternoon to battle some more. By the end of the day I was very hot and stinky, and while dinner was in the oven, I jumped in the shower (not literally jumped, because that’s very dangerous). I managed to get half of the bed done, which was more than I expected to get sorted, so I was very pleased. With all this exercise and hard work, I’ll hopefully sleep well, and be ready to battle the rest of the bed tomorrow.