I'm starting to wish this had more to do with sleeping.
Our garden has long been unloved. Well, perhaps not unloved as the kids certainly love it, but definitely untended! We have attempted to tame elements of it in the four years we've been here, but a lot of that has just been tearing out old and massively overgrown shrubs (I think the garden was described as 'mature' in the estate agent's listing) and not ever really coming up with a plan to plant it back up. There are 8 foot flowerbeds cut down either side of the garden, and doing anything can feel a bit overwhelming, you get on top of the weeds in one corner, turn around to do something else and they just swarm back in again - last year I spend three solid days just digging out ground elder. Planting vegetables each year always ends in disaster, partly as I'm almost incapable of spacing things out correctly, but even when the soil's been turned over digging things in is actually quite hard.
This year husband ordered raised beds - four of them. The plan is that this will make at least one side of the garden more managable - at least once they're in - you can see in the photo the hight of soil that needs to be cut away for each of them to be placed. I expect by the end of this Ed's arm muscles will be back to what they were when I first met him and he had time to visit the gym four times a week.
But digging out the soil and screwing the frame pieces together is only half the task. Husband insists that alll the soil must be stuck through a riddle before it goes back in - this is rather an excessive amount of
riddling. We already have a large pile of stones and only one bed has been done.
Luckily Pip absolutely loves being in the garden. He keeping getting his wellies and coat out and trying to convince us to let him go out again. He's a very mellow wee chap, but there are definite signs of terrible two's tantrums if you take him inside before he's ready. When I went out this morning to hang some laundry, he was very cross he wasn't being taken too and tried to follow me out the cat flap. This unfortunatly I failed to photograph.
But I did put his waterproofs on (I have already done enough laundry this week) and we went out and dug for most of the morning. He sat happily digging and investigating things and being about the lowest maintenance toddler one could ever hope for. He did try eating a little soil later on, but it was only a little and it's apparently very good for developing immune systems...
By the end of play today (I went to see the horse, he was lame) we'd managed to get the first two beds in, one filled and the other started. I think we're off for an adventure tomorrow, so the next two might have to wait for next weekend, but I think I'm fine with that as my hands and back are pretty stiff from all the digging and riddling. I did manage to put a few peas in, and I've got some tomato plants almost ready to join in the fun. There is also the prospect of seeds going straight into soil that doesn't resemble concrete.
