Pig Sty Avenue

Maybe I should call it, now, the Old Shed Bed? Above, a photo taken in May 2016, when I decided it really had to go . Since then, I have learned to my cost that it was sited there probably because one of my plot-holding predecessors decided the ground there, being full of clinker from a coke fire or blast-furnace was ungardenable. Well, look on my works, ye predecessors, and despair. It took the entire 2017 growing season, the plots' 100th birthday, but it was done: from ungardenable to a marvellous tilth, now sown with winter field beans and over-layered with a thick coating of oomska. Even as I type this, anecic and endogeic earthworms are packing their bags and heading for this delightful new location to hob-nob with their epigeic cousins, the bloodworms, who have themselves recently arrived with the oomska. Like most new migrants, they'll work hard and procreate prodigiously.

The bottom NE corner. This photo was taken at close of play today. The big heap of diggings from the pond are now over on the NW bed. Where you can see the barrow resting on the fence, there was a compost heap. I've moved it to the other end of the plot. It was full of blood worms from the bag of oomska I dumped there last autumn. Also today, I put a metal grid in front of the Council's drain, it's where you can see a metal rod by the pond. I filled the area in front of that with pebbles. It's now a pretty neat over-flow for the pond. Whilst working today, I took a breather and looked up, and there was a heron, flying by slowly, apparently eying my pond. The Council men came. It was nice to have a couple of pairs of ears to articulate my pond and drainage thoughts to. They were kind enough to listen, and reassure me I was doing the right things. I also learned that there's a big pond in the communal plot, just 30 yards or so from mine, hidden by trees. That...