Compost distributed

Tuesday arrived bright and fairly calm, so I felt inspired to spend the afternoon working on the garden. (In amongst stripping, washing, drying, and re-putting-on bed sheets and some other chores.)

There are quite a few tasks that I think are worth doing, and in particular are worth doing before the winter sets in for good. I did an almost-final bit harvesting (including four pea pods, some rotten squashes, and a very small surprise courgette; I just have a few beans left to pick), but mostly I was dealing with the compost heaps and the compost bin.

I had filled them in the early spring with lots shredded conifers and other unwanted garden material, and kept them topped up with food waste and grass clippings. Over the warmer months, most of it has rotted down nicely, and was just taking up space in the heaps. So I emptied the mature compost onto the veg patches, and mixed in the remaining compost with a load of leaves that I collected from the pavement outside, from the spot at which I took yesterday's blip. I'm not going to dig it in this time; worms and microbes and other wildlife and creatures can do their things and incorporate it into the layers below for me. If they'd please be so kind. I'm in no rush.

Today's photo is intended to be compared with my one from Sunday, which showed the sorry state of my potato patch, and the work-in-progress wall and gravel path.

In the end I did bother digging up the potatoes that had grown in this patch, and obtained a pitiful crop, at least half of which I immediately discarded because it was either already rotten, or too-much attacked by pests. Still, it's always satisfying to harvest something that you've grown, and potatoes in particular are magic: pop one in the ground, wait a few months, and get back more. It's like the stock market, only more honest and reliable, with fewer fees. I'm hoping that the ones I've kept are tasty. I'll found out soon.

Having topped this patch with a thick layer of the compost, I've now prepared the way to finish off the walls as I was talking about in that previous post. Perhaps I'll get round to that soon.

I also put tried my kilt on in the evening, for the first time since May 2018, to check that it is still in good shape, and still fits. It is, and it does, although I could do with one or two new dress shirts... my neck might have slightly enlarged since I was 27. I'm not sure. But it felt good to put it on – I hope I have an occasion at which to wear it again, soon.