It was our first weekend on the plot.
As I arrived I plunged my fork into the ground, Scott of the Antarctic stylee. It twanged as it hit the surface, bounced back 2 metres and propagated an agonising wave up my arm. I started hopping around, whining about stress fractures and the general impossibleness of our situation.
Fortunately Lynn is less easily broken. As I was banished to the bottom of the plot, swoe in hand, Lynn started on the concrete zone. Less than 20 mins later she came towards me looking rather sheepish, holding two bits of my favourite fork in her hands.
Play was suspended for the morning.
Having revitalised ourselves with a chip butty and the purchase of another fork (this time with a 10 year guarantee) we returned and laboured hard into the afternoon.
Day 2 saw us back on the plot bright and early, trying to catch the attention of the committee members. With a growing pile of debris and a no bombfire rule, we needed insider assistance on the best route to dispose of it all. Thankfully after yesterdays hard labour we had both received gold stars and were welcomed back by the site bigwigs. Once a year they host a mammoth sitewide fire and our plot could provide the bulk of the fuel.
A little more digging around the bramble roots put paid to fork number 2. I’ll be having a battle at Homebase tomorrow as I try to claim on that 10 year guarantee.
Digging with bent tines is quite unsatisfactory. I imagine it’s like eating an apple with only one front tooth, a wobbly one at that.
We’re going to try a spade next weekend, in the hope that it will cope with the solid conditions better than the fork, we just can’t continue to go through tools at this rate.
Overall the results were quite satisfying for one weekends work. Most of the clearance has been superficial as we haven’t been able to breach below the 1 cm layer. Hopefully it will rain soon and we may be able to start proper digging.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Nick // Oct 5, 2009 at 5:13 am
“I imagine it’s like eating an apple with only one front tooth, a wobbly one at that. ”
What a great simile! I also loved the intro, and the updating to “bombfire”
Coincidentally, I was digging near my oak to plant a blackberry bush and got the same bounce froom the tree’s enormous roots; so I started digging to the west, only to find two more; then to the south, etc. I think I will only be planting tiny bulbs or irises in that area.
2 earthwoman // Oct 5, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Thanks Nick
I’m not sure if I should own up to “Bombfire” being a bona-fide spelling mistake?
3 allotment blogger // Oct 7, 2009 at 9:02 am
Ah, I sympathise. I’ve been watching the rain, hoping it will help me dig over our plot but so far I’ve got down about four inches and then the soil is like concrete. So far I haven’t broken a fork but last year I also got through two. But the fork I bought at a garden sale, second-hand, has coped admirably. So perhaps they made them tougher in the old days!
4 earthwoman // Oct 7, 2009 at 9:23 am
I think you are right allotmentblogger. My new plot neighbour has had her patch since the 1940′s and it looks to me as though she may be using the same fork!
I’ll see if I can acquire an old antique, they may weigh a tonne but at least they are built to last.
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