I finally got down to the allotment on Sunday afternoon.  It was a beautiful day.  The sun was shining and the air was warm.  I was all ready for a good 4 or 5 hour stint.  I looked in the back of my car to find that I did not have any wellies. 

I was not pleased.  I had taken out all the gardening things and put them into the shed so that I could collect Frances’ boy friend who had just arrived from Hong Kong, large cases and all.  So where had I put them?  I put the fork, spade, sprayer, tub and lawn mowings into the car but no wellies.  (Wellies -short for wellington boot.  A rubbery boot used when gardening.)

I decided to continue regardless of my bootless condition.  I was wearing stout shoes, however I had forgotten the perilous nature of a semi waterlogged soil.  I kept to the paths after several incidents of sinking pecariously up to my ankles in the quagmire that I call my allotment. 

Fortunately I have a very long armed sprayer so I endeavoured to spray all the leeks with liquid derris while still remaining on the path.  A task that I achieved with remarkable ease considering the handicap I put myself under. 

This was my main task for the afternoon.  The weather was very pleasant so, when the allotment chairman came over to chat, unusually I did not mind at all.  It seems that the council are going to bring in large trucks and diggers to remove the soil from the allotments.  They are going to try to take out all the soil and replace it in three days.  My experience of  local councils leads me to believe they will not do this in three months, however I am very open to being surprised. 

Two of the allotmenteers that are also affected were moving their sheds and other equipment off their allotments so I and several others gave them a hand.  We have moved two sheds without dismatling now. 

If anyone wants expert shed movers, we have a cracking team at Mount Road Allotments …

I played about trying to dig out comfrey and heeling it in further up the allotment, but with little success.  I could not find the rhubarb under the comfrey and pumpkin.  I don’t think it has died back that much yet.  My main rhubarb patch is still in leaf.   Everything is disappearing at the moment. 

Well, having arrived home, I looked for my wellies in the shed.  They were not there. I cannot for the life of me remember where I put them.  However, as my friend Liz says, if you stop looking for things they turn up when you are least expecting them.  I am still waiting…

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 8:14 pm and is filed under rhubarb, leeks, comfrey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.