Allotment gardening

I haven't had the chance to get down to the allotment for a few days now so am anxious to see how things are growing and to get on with some more clearing. I have bought some new gardening gloves as I lost my old pair - these are a bit like washing-up gloves with an elasticated wrist. I take my youngest son Nathan down with me and the first thing we have to do is go and check out the scarecrow who is always standing at the back of the allotment site.



Unfortunately, Nath has a bit of a cold which makes him a bit of a handful. He wets himself, falls over and asks to go home sooner than I would have hoped. I only manage to dig about a quarter of the bed where the upturned pile of sods were. As I dig it I come across some burnt sods of grass which remind me of a year ago when I had a bonfire and then dug up all the sods with my mattock. I am also reminded of a year ago when I try to dig the earth under where the pile of grass was. It has never been dug before and it is rock hard - just like the whole plot was this time last year. It is like concrete but I do my best and turn over about a quarter of the bed - which includes most of the area where the pile of earth was. Hopefully from here on in it will get easier. Sometimes it annoys me how much I let these few beds get out of control resulting in so much end of year work. I'll have to try and stay on top of things next summer. The gloves worked very well, by the way.