Gettin’ Diggy With It

On your mark ready set let’s go,
Garden pro, I know you know
I go psycho when the spring time hit,
Just can’t sit,
Got to get diggy with it, thats it.

It’s finally spring time, the temperature is rising, the mornings are brighter, there’s a grand old stretch of an evening, the winter coats are stored away, the first potatoes are in the ground and I’ve spent days upon days digging my soil. The plot, which is usually a disaster in March, looks weed free and ready for another rich gardening season.

Spring is the season of hope. The daffodils and crocuses announce the end of a very long and bleak winter which seemed to stretch on for longer than usual. The storms have eased, the frost is thawing and the garden gives birth to colour anew.

Most importantly maybe, Spring is the season of the shovel. Gardeners everywhere are spending hours, days, weeks, turning over their soil, raking it to a fine tilth, preparing it for the life it will soon sustain.

This March marks the beginning of year four on my allotment and I have spent a huge amount of time getting diggy with it in the past week. I whack on my earphones, get a cup of tea and dig and rake in time to the beat – apologies to anyone who may have seen me using my rake as a microphone, I can often be found dancing around the plot like a woman possessed. My arms and back ache, my ribs are tender, my legs feel like they’ve run 20 miles, my hands are bruised, splintered and ragged. I’m developing my annual gardening guns, hours of raking have toned up my biceps and my shoulders; sure who needs a gym when you have an allotment. Raking six large raised beds to a fine tilth is more resistance training than any gym could provide. I’m feeling healthy and happy again after a laborious winter of discontent.

On St. Patrick’s Day, I did what any proper Irish food gardener should do and planted up my early potatoes. This year, I’m growing a blight resistant variety named “Orla”, of which, I have heard nothing but high praise. As such, the new season has begun, I am buying seeds, mocking up planting arrangements and spending outrageous amounts of time in local gardening centres and hardware stores. The ground is still a little cold for this time of year so I am waiting an extra week or two to plant my onions and carrots so in the mean time I am sprucing up my plot and sprucing up this site. I thought it was fitting to redesign my blog, a new look for a new season, like the fresh lick of paint I am giving my  shed (I began painting it yesterday and it looks a bit like a wendy house so I’m reconsidering my options before I finish painting it and become the rock chick gardener girl with the fairy tale princess shed and destroy my street cred I’ve been working so hard to maintain).

Two 0f the six beds are freshly painted bright blue and the rest will be done next week. Then, it will be time to sow, sow, sow and before I know it, the plot will be lush and green and productive once more.

I’ve begun posting a lot of photos on my Instagram account so give it an old follow if you fancy seeing more regular posts about my daily progress on the plot. It’s great to be back, it’s great to be gardening, it’s great to feel like I have a purpose, and it’s great to once again, be gettin’ diggy with it.

Na na na na na na na nana
Na na na na nana…….