Digging under the rain

What a day: I started digging at 11 and was not done before 6!

It was very satisfactory physical work - was shattered when I got home (man who saw me on my way said: "Keep going!" and burst out laughing it was so obvious that if I stopped I wouldn't start again!!!) and went to sleep at 9, but it felt really good.

As it was raining in showers quite a lot of the time, I managed to sow some more seeds, but otherwise the soil was surprisingly not too muddy, so by the end of the day I had

• marked the boundary of half the plot,
• digged and covered my potato bed, so the soil will get warm early,
• digged in compost in a very compacted bed that is going to be my chilli bed, and covered it as well.

I hope the compost I have used to sow the seeds will work out fine: looks a bit too rough and I am worried that the woody bits migh mould and affect the seeds. I have bough some organic and peat-free today for the rest of the sowing.

Today I also stocked up on clip top kilner jars on sales, ready for my jam-making in a few months. A few weeks ago I got the River Cottage preserves book, together with another book on keeping the harvest (which is very US focussed but interesting). Now I only need hubby to help me put up shelves in the kitchen, or I won't have enough space for any preserved produce :)

P.S. One of the neighbour's had cut back his share of bushes to make the path walkable - even though he did not uproot them, so they will be back in the summer - which is a tiny step forward. And tomorrow I am going to post my challenge to the notification letter.