Topic: It's cheaper than the gym....It's cheaper than

[allotment_chick]

The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing the washing-up was done (eurgh - enough about housework type chores), so pottered off up the lottie for a few hours.  8)

Started taking down the bean plants on plot no. 1.  That was OK, but then decided I needed somewhere to put the bean plant remains and my composts heaps are full.  :-/

Thinking on the hoof (as all gardeners do) I decided that this would be a good time to set up the first compost heap on plot no. 2, which hasn't seen much in the way of TLC for at least 10 years and has recently been burnt off in order to make it presentable!  :)

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time...the reality is that I had to dig up a gooseberry that looked like it has been there from time immemorial, see off the first of what can only be hundreds of brambles, cut out the edge of the plot, shift the pallets and lash them together and then bring in two barrow of horse manure for the first layer!  I'm totally kn*#k@%~d....and never did tip the chopped up beans onto the heap!   :o

Hope to have recovered enough to go up tomorrow, but any and all expressions of sympathy will be gratefully received!   :'(

However, have made a promise to myself that I will dig up at least one bramble every time I'm up there - I find they're not hard work once I've got the the scorched earth (well, not as hard as the gooseberry, anyway!) but you do have to be persistent!  

Keep repeating the mantra ...... 'it's cheaper than the gym....it's cheaper than the gym.....its...... ::)

[teresa]

Hi AC

Yep its cheeper than a gym and you dont have to go to the expence of fancy clothes. Just pace yourself and have lots of hot baths, bottles of alchol  ;) and painkillers the latter a hour before you go to the lottie. Works wonders says an expert ha ha.
good luck and LOADS of sympathy. Teresa

[allotment_chick]

Yo T - nice to hear from you ... and thank you for the sympathy.  I'm reasonably recovered this morning, so I think a bit more allotmenteering is on the agenda.

What I forget to mention about yesterday also was one of our site water tanks sprung a leak!  Rather than let it drain wastefully into the soil, I was trying to empty it out, but I 'hit the wall' after about thirty trips with me watering can!!   :(  

[teresa]

Hi AC

Yep I am back, hope you put the water on your lottie helps with the digging. Now I understand why you were worn out your legs must have being doing a wobbly dance.
My son was sent out to Iraq 8 months ago and the weight started to drop off me thats why I got a lottie to take my mind off it and tone up the losse bits? It did work so I was nearly a 16 went to 12. Hes been back 2 months now and still 12 lottie all dug and planted I am soooo proud of it. Just hope he does not go away again ha ha runner beans comming out of my ears good job we love the runners.
Now this comming week got to pay for the lottie subs so yes worth it slowed the weight problem for me and toned me up as well all for 12 pounds and this is for next years rent so realy I got it for free this year .

[allotment_chick]

Just got back - the car temperature read-out was at 30 degrees which means it must have been around 27.  

Glad to hear of your son's safe return!  

I haven't (sadly) lost any weight as far as I can tell, but I must be fitter and we get much more in the way of fresh air than the lycra-clad people.....although, at this time of year, fresh air is loosly defined!  Bonfires, if you catch my drift....

I dread to think what will become of my hard won stamina over the winter.  I don't normally go up to my plot at all during the Dec/Jan/Feb months because of the wet....but I'm beginning to despair of any rain.  I suppose with the peverse weather, it'll pour down for three solid months starting in November.   ::)

[teresa]

dont know if this will help but my sister in law uses old carpets to cover her lottie in winter. They let the rain through but no light so no weeds. ;)
Blankets would do the same that what I used when I dug the lottie to keep the moisture in. :D
These days its the weed supresent mesh bit expencive or you grow the green manure which I am still trying to work out which one to use. There seems so many of them. :-/
Or buy a goat and teather it they eat what ever comes up ha ha ;D
Hows the comphrey doing? :D
Teresa

[Hyacinth]

Ozzie! Message of a massage from you and poor AC will have high bp to contend with as well as aching limbs.. :-[

To covering with carpet..be ever so careful that the carpet isn't rubber backed..it just disintegrates into the soil, it's not permeable & you're picking bits of latex out of the soil forever...no! it's yer bit of good-quality Axminster that'll do the trick here..

To the general fitness thing..every Spring, when I start digging over my plot I'm amazed at how stiff and ache-y I feel for a while...'spect you use different muscles than the winter ones (decorating,driving to the pub, sitting around, the obligatory Walk on Boxing Day etc. etc.?)...then...just when I feel I can Dig for England, the damned winter's upon us again..  :( Lishka

[allotment_chick]

Hi All
I mulch most of the beds with strawy stable manure in late autumn - so the weed thing isn't generally a problem in spring.  I remove the manure to the compost bin in late March/early April to let the soil breathe and dry out for a bit and then get stuck in...
After the first visit in spring (which is usually for an hour or so, cos by that time the most exercise I've had for months is lifting a mug of hot choccy), it's like Lish says - takes you months to turn into the allotment version of WonderWoman and then it's November again!  

In an effort to maintain forward momentum, I am going to attempt an attack on plot No 2 over the winter, but at the first sign of sinking up to the top of my galoshes - I'm out of there!

Ozzie - You certainly know how to schmooze, man!  Salt and vinegar on that?  ???  Mushy peas?  Oooh - I say!  :o