The Good Earth

[poliphilo]

Matthew turned up  with a truckload of manure. He'd intended it for another client who told him at the last moment that they didn't want it. I offered to pay and he said "Just remember I'm in credit with you."

I planted a shrub yesterday. The untreated soil round here is the stiffest clay- and I broke a spade in half trying to lever a clump of some gritty conglomerate out of the hole. I softened things up with a scatter of Matthew's manure.

I saw my first butterfly of the spring this afternoon. A red admiral- sunning itself on a nettlebed.

The cat just brought in another of its little playmates and chased it behind a chest of drawers. So far as I know it's still there. This could run and run.

Comments

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

Somehow I imagined all the soil in Great Britain to be soft and rich from centuries of composting and cultivation.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

Likewise! Like meringue!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Not so. Lots of chalk round here. And heavy clay.

[kamomil.livejournal.com]

We have awful clay soil in our backyard. Vegetables grow in it, so I leave alone. It won't break garden tools though.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I was surprised at how dreadful this patch of soil was. Most of the garden has been well dug over and enriched and so on.