Coming out of hibernation

I ordered a garden cart to save us from either having to ruin OH's car scraping past the allotment hedges or having to carry everything on our shoulders. 

It has finally arrived and we put it together on Friday evening. It's a green rattly thing, apparently designed to carry a load of 300kg, but I doubt that very much. I had to work Sat morning so fled into the garden as soon as I could. OH followed me – he too had a very busy week at work. I dug out 14 paving slabs we had used as paths and bed edging and that were now obsolete. They dry off a bit overnight and on Sunday morning, I load up the cart with 10 slabs and trundle off down the street. I am wearing my ancient Ecuadorian Pachamama roughknit that is now more darn than original wool. It makes me look like Michelin Woman. I run into quite a few neighbours on the way, all of whom smile indulgently and just ask “Allotment?” Oh yes.

The cart survives its maiden voyage very well.

I offload the slabs and load up the cart with 3 sacks of allotment plastic rubbish and trundle back, stopping for chats with the old boys along the way. I have almost reached home when OH turns the corner – he's been to B&Q's for bark and compost.

P, our neighbour, is also out in the driveway setting up his sawhorse. He admires my new toy. We have a job cheering him up. A smoker for most of his life, P has now finally given up the fags and has managed to stick with it for several months now. But he is ever so miserable and complains about weight gain (which only he can see). OH appropriates my cart and rolls the 6 sacks of bark through into our garden. The bark is for Catshit Alley, a short bit of bark-covered path running between our two birches that is in urgent need of topping up.

OH and I tackle the Garden Spring Prune: the other neighbour's jungly jasmine, our rampant fig tree, the leylandii hedge. I find it funny that OH mocked me for buying so much pruning and chopping gear the other week (I paid for it!), only for him to appropriate the heavy-duty lopper and totally barber the fig tree (“This is brilliant!”). I have a go at the big hedge, trying the electric two-hand hedgecutter for the first time.

OH uses up allotment kale and potatoes and duck stock from the freezer for a warming hotpot.