What a stunning day, cold and crisp but lush sunshine and Blue skies.
Well, till I lit the fire anyway. 🙂
Having spent many hours this week forking over the ground, with it being a frosty night and still frosted over when I got to the plots, I decided with the winds being light and in the right direction to get a job that has been waiting for a while done. Instead of another day working with the fork on frosty ground, a much warmer and enjoyable day all in all.
Not easy-going by any means, as the first thing that needed to be done was to get a fire going…
Everything was soaked or very damp, but after a little encouragement (Read some petrol which needed using as it was from last year) the fire bin was soon licking hungrily at the kindling and wood placed into it to get a blaze going. Soon there was enough heat to start drying the wood off and then that in turn soon took alight.
Next job was to break open the first compost bin section which was made from pallets. Once a side had been removed it was then time to start forking out the old weeds, bracken and other assorted detritus removed, weeded and discarded over the last year and a half. Then fork it around the burning bin and start loading it in as the fire took properly.
I wasn’t alone today with regards getting a fire going, someone else had seen the weather and decided it was an ideal day for a bit of a bonfire, so soon there was plenty of smoke in the air and the satisfying snap, crackle and pop of weeds and roots burning.
Once the fire was going strongly, it was time to start grabbing other material that could be burned off and got rid of, and it wasn’t in short demand. I started by clearing the top end of Plot 3, which had an abundance of old woody plant material that needed to go. Plot 4 also had a lot of grass like material fit for throwing on also. Soon the sun vanished behind thick smoke and while Shadow enjoyed chewing his bone it was time to sit and take 5 while the blaze ate through the heaped material ready to be devoured.
Once it had settled I kept feeding it what I had available, and eventually made some clear space on Plot 3 and 4. Deciding it might be worth seeing if I could make life a bit easier to get around the new plots. I chose to break out the JCB lawnmower and do some rough cutting to see what state the plots were underneath all the scrub, after I sheared down the over grown paths between the plots.
An hour or so with the lawnmower certainly made a difference, not quite what it was made for or it’s intended use, but the deck being adjustable makes it a handy ad-hoc strimmer, and it soon started clearing out sections at a fair speed. Including the quickly returning to life Berry/currant section at the bottom end of Plot 2.
Finished off giving a few other overgrown sections a quick short back and sides to make it easier in a few months to get in and amongst things and start getting the place looking tidy and well-loved.
Shadow was on his best behaviour today, and spent the day sat wondering what I was up to while thoughtfully chewing on his bone and watching on in bemusement. He had a good long run and play session before I started, chasing his frisbee and catching it, then bringing it back till he was spent. It really is a Dog’s life, wish I had his. 🙂