Dig On For Victory

I went to the coast this weekend and bought this book. The man on the front is my role model.

Following up my rather negative and apocalyptic post 'Increased Chances', I've decided to try and make some positive action myself. Thinking about things whilst at dover castle, specifically the secret war time tunnels made me consider the fact that the attitude during the war of 'make do and mend' and 'dig for victory' are still more than relevant now. Although we're no longer facing lack of supply due to trade routes being cut off, we are experiencing increasingly dwindling resources, and this is being hidden from us to some extent by large corporates because they depend on our dependency on them. As a result of that I have now started preparing my garden for the cultivation of vegetables, and should you feel compelled to join me I heartily encourage you to! I'd also like to encourage any sort of dialogue about gardening too, so please chip in if you'd like advice, or conversely have some advice for me!

I wasn't really planning on making this post until after I'd finished work for the day so I don't have any images of work in progress. But here's the result of a few hours work on my day off - a large hole, about a foot deep, by two wide by four long.

Why is there a large hole in the end of my garden? I'm guessing that this is a question that both my housemates and the reader might be wondering.

I'm doing what is known as 'double digging', illustrated by the diagram below:

This is going to take a very long time, I have to dig up the entire garden, but considering it's been neglected for a very long time and not been used for vegetables, I think it's worth it. It also has a very high clay content, so over the next few days I'm going to buy some garden lime to help break it up a little.

My housemates have the allotment covered up with a tarp for now - to prevent weeds from growing, and killing off the ones that are there at the moment.

Another thing I've found from my new book is that it can really make a difference how clean you keep your tools. The garden tools in my house had routinely left with mud on them in the shed and have developed a smattering of rust. Fortunately I've found a pretty good recipe for removing this. It's just vinegar, baking soda, and a piece of tinfoil scrunched up with the shiny side facing out. Mix the vinegar and the soda, dip the foil into the mixture, and give your garden tools a scrub.

It works surprisingly well, and although they're not rust free yet, they look significantly better!

I'm going too keep at it with this garden, hopefully this series of posts will help spur me on.


Tweet