If I ache this much now, what's it going to be like tomorrow

Up at 5am (as per usual), pitch black outside apart from the wonderful almost full moon creating a really ghostly glow over everything. That's going to be cold out there I thought. I wasn't wrong. Really quite autumnal.

Did the usual copious cups of tea and fags until 7.30am and then packed up the car with just about every tool I could find in the house. Drill and screwdriver both charged, two flasks of hot water, some tea bags and milk, change of clothes in case it got hot (it did), and off I toddled.

It was beautiful when I arrived, a really lovely fresh late summer morning. Naturally I had to take a couple of picks. This is what the lottie looks like at 7.45am.



My car wasn't even the first there this morning! Some other eager beaver taking advantage of the lovely weather.

First of all I got started building the bed with the 5'x5'. Easier said that done. No area of level ground that large. So had to make do with next door's patio. Not exactly level, but was good enough. Still I got halfway through it when I heard/saw the lorry turn up. He must have paid attention to my directions as he didn't hit the speed bump with a screech of tyres ! Made my way up to the gate to meet him when he beeped his horn. Then he came and had a look at where I was going to have to carry the wood to and decided that he could quite easily drop it over the fence rather than leave it at the gate. What a nice man. I said we were quite precious about our fence and bushes so to be very careful. He was. He had been an allotmenteer before he moved to Glasgow, so I think he was quite interested in what I was doing.

After he left, I completed the square bed and stuck it in position over the leeks. Works out quite well there. Will give me a nice pathway all the way round so getting to the centre won't be too much of a chore. The nice ex Mrs Secretary and her hubbie came for a chat and so very kindly gave me a huge trug type thing for the over wintering garlics. I must obviously be making an impression with my effort ! The pair of them are very knowledgeable about the site and I'm hoping that they can put something together for me for the SWAA website.


Next task on the list - build a bed! I actually built this one in situ as it a) fitted b) was easier on the knees. The drill and screwdriver really came into their own. Extremely handy tools.



Would have taken me twice the time without them. Then painted Bed No. 2 with the green paint. Managed to splash it everywhere. I came home looking like one of the 101 dalmations, but in green !

Tried to start on Bed No. 3 but the drill had run out of power, so spent the next couple of hours painting the next bed. By then I was starting to get tired, so gradually tidied up, stored the wood in the shed (there's no way I could hide it, so I'm just hoping we don't get robbed tonight). The only thing I'm slightly concerned about now is how much soil it's going to take to fill these beds. They look HUGE.

The final task of the night was to sink No. 2 bed into the ground. Dug four holes for the corner posts and got it at just about level So here are the two of them in more or less their final positions.

I must admit to being quite chuffed. I'm tired, aching and hands are really sore. I did a 10 hour shift today but loved every minute of it. I picked a handful of Blue Lake beans before I left, and then on the way off site I remembered Ahmed's Bosnian pumpkin that I'd seen the day before. I've no idea what it's supposed to look like, or how big it's supposed to get, but I'm very impressed that it hasn't rotted or been nibbled .... yet !

Got home, hot shower, beer and no doubt I'll fall asleep as soon as I've finished this.

And the most exciting thing of all, I get to do it all again tomorrow. This is what I call a holiday.