Back On Course

At the end of August I developed a bad back. As a gardener, I am no stranger to the occasional back twinge, but this was different. It was disabling and just would not get better.

Eventually I made a rare trip to the doctor which resulted in me being sent a series of physiotherapy exercises to perform daily. Progress has been slow and it has led to me becoming quite depressed. Working outdoors is my joy in life, so not being able to get anything done outside has been a bit of a nightmare.
After the worst growing season we've experienced here on the smallholding, it has not been a good latter part of the year. The only consolation is that the timing of my bad back could have been far worse. I missed some harvesting and didn't get any winter crops in, I wasn't able to clear old beds and sow oats as ground cover, but overall it won't take too much to get back on track.

Finally in the last couple of days I have been able to think forward. I have been clearing canes, cutting back old growth, covering beds with cardboard and even moving a little compost onto some of the beds. And with this comes renewed hope. 2019 is almost behind us and in some ways is best forgotten, but 2020 is a clean slate.

Clearance begins and beds are being covered and protected ready for the 2020 growing season. 

As you can see, it's all a bit wet at the moment.

But 2019 wasn't a total loss. I have learned a lot from my experiments with no-dig growing and from using volunteers on the farm. The enforced break was hard and I was beginning to lose heart, but a couple of days of gentle work outside have left me feeling enthused again and my back seems to be holding up as long as I am careful with what I do.

It's that time of year when plans and preparations are made for the coming growing season. On this day last year I planted garlic cloves.
As you can see from the puddles, that task will have to wait a while this year.

It's been very wet lately. So when we get prolonged rain there is quite simply nowhere for it to go.

It doesn't stay like this for long though. It will gradually seep down through the ground.