The Big Dig (Part 3)

Sunday proved some welcome relief for the man with a plan, who took all his aches and pains to the first regional motocross event of the season. Monday soon arrived, with the obligatory aches and pains supplemented by some further from the previous day.

Various seeds had now made a dash for air in the dark and warm airing cupboard and these were transplanted into more suitable pots with moist compost mix and a spare area on the window sills found to accomodate.

It is quite easy to understand how a new plot holder could easily become demoralised with the extent of the dig on a new site, and having set ourselves up for a day of digging, digging and more digging, enlisted some assistance for the day. Peter Hunnable very graciously wielded an experienced spade, and starting at one end of the 'to be dug area' worked his way down the site with some alacrity towards Karen who was travelling in the opposite direction. In the meantime, the project owner had made a mad dash in what looked like seriously easy soil conditions down the outer perimeter until the manure heap reached.

Whilst all this was taking place, a good friend and neighbour, Chris Ripley, who had learnt of the mad cap idea and initially questioned my sanity, offered out some practical assistance for the day. Bribed with copious cups of tea, the offer of lunch, cakes and biscuits, set out to build what in the eyes of a novice plot holder can only be described as a 'Rolls Royce' of a potting bench from the various scraps, odds and ends of pallets strewn on the site.(no disrespect to all the other seriously good builds on site). Aside of a work surface still to be procured, this quality piece of craftwork has now been positioned in the poly tunnel awaiting many hands to make hay with all the seed and plant cultivation.



Various stops for tea, and a prolonged stop to photograph what turned out to be the larvae of a stag beetle, eventually conspired to prevent us from joining up the various strands of the dig completely, but significant forward movement had been achieved during the day and some very grateful thanks to the elegant dig from Peter, and the handiwork of our good friend Chris. The results of the days endeavour can be seen at the top of the article.