Day Five.

A bit of time was spent letting the land go fallow and crop rotating, but it was high time to get a crack on. All the good work from the previous days was well settled now, and stage two was about to get underway. Operation Gemüse was in force. Tom and Barbara didn't become self sufficient growing tulips and lavender, and The Moston Capability Brown is no different. Time for the serious business. It does no good pissing around and waiting.

A trip to B&Q later, for bags of horse shit and some wood, and as if by magic a raised bed was in place and the fun started. Another arm wrecking day of labour in the field resulted in the following transformation:


As can be seen, progress had taken a back step, and the curse of the farmer (black plastic) had taken root on my land. To be honest it was more crisp wrappers and carrier bags that people seem comfortable with tossing aside with reckless abandon. At least it wasn't as bad as the bag of empty beer cans somebody had thrown in near the pavement complete with a pint pot! What goes through their minds the roustabouts?!?!

Back to the good news, and the results of a hard (half) day in the field:

A satisfying day was rewarded by extreme muscle acheage for the next two days along with severely scratched hands. Not great when I had an interview for promotion the next day. The mild mannered ladies conducting the process must have wondered about the groaning skinhead with cuts all over his knuckles. It didn't go well, suffice to say...

Day Four.

Two posts in a day! I'm getting the grip of this blogging lark. It looked like it was going to piss it down so at a suitable juncture I called it a day. No digging today but a load of clearing of bushes and prickles. Suede gloves will only do so much. I bear the scars of my labours with remarkable dignity.

As well as the now traditional aerial shot (costs me a fortune in helicopter hire I'm telling you) there are a few side by side compare and contrast pictures. Posh or what?

You can click on any picture to get a close up view of the muck and destroyed plants.

Back to work tomorrow so my super fast progress will be a thing of the past until Sunday when a full day will be put in. I'll hope to get a bit done each night, but the dark evenings are still upon us.

The helicopter shot.

A contrasting ground shot. Note the appearance of a shed and a back fence.

Even more startling appearances. Not only the shed and the fence, but the old strawberry beds and a path surrounding the long disused ornamental concrete pond.

Day Three.

A bit more digging, a bit more chopping at the front. I've also tentatively agreed for my mate to re-erect the columns at the foot of the drive (it sounds grander than it is!) that were knocked down by pissheads about eight years ago. Kev's motto: Never Rush.

There was major excitement at a few archaeological finds that emerged. See below for details.

I'm off out for another afternoon so check back for more exciting updates tomorrow.

The day's progress. Not as much as day two, but more stuff around the house was done. And I had to do the big shop. Is that enough excuses?

The finds:

A: a jade trapezium of the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD)

B: a silver soup spoon of flatware service bearing the mark of Tiffany & Co. New York circa 1870

C: one of my toy soldiers. A German sniper. He was one of my favourites but seems to have suffered terrible injuries to the legs and an arm. War is brutal.

D: a hand forged six inch nail circa 1590

A close up of the soldier. If only it had been an Afrika Corps kneeling machine gunner, or a WW2 British para...

Day Two.

A bit of a hiatus occurred when it turned out my aching muscles weren't solely due to my exertions. I was laid up for three days with a cold and achey limbs. I combated this by drinking a bottle of Grant's Ale Cask whisky, playing Modern Warfare 2 in bed and sleeping.

Back to it now though. I'll have to rethink my camera angles or this is going to get very dull.

To lighten it up and give a bit of variety, and seeing as vegetable growing is very 70s indeed here's a classic image of the 1970s for the lads and dads.

I enjoyed tennis from a young age.

The result of Sunday's exertions. The contrasting soil shows just how hard I worked. It's especially commendable as Saturday was spent on an all-dayer in Buxton and Whalley Range.

Day One.

Day one got under way and with a lot of trepidation I set out on my labours. It's the next morning now, and my aching arms are about to be abused again, but enough of my art pamphlet collection, back to it.

Welcome To The Jungle - An eye level view of the brambles.

Course I've got wellies. I don't want to look a div at the Young Farmers piss ups do I?

The end of day one. It might not look a lot, but there was a lot of clearing of brambles and trimming of wild trees towards the front of the garden as well. Honest.

An incentive.

My only gardening experience is being made to mow the lawn as a youth. Now I'm in charge of the garden it's gone tits up!

To try and get some sort of order to it I've decided to try and grow veg. I have no idea what I'm doing but have two old books from the seventies and the back of the seed packets to guide me. What can go wrong? A lot I'm guessing. Pop back for regular (ish) updates on my progress. I've booked this week off to get a head start, so there may be rapid progress, or I may be sick of it after an hour and spend the week shooting things on my PS3.

As you can see from the 'before' picture, it's quite wild. There's a two track concrete driveway somewhere under there!

Okay, enough bluster, I'm going in...