Man ...

... at work.

Well, that was a fun day at the allotment. Bright sunshine and a touch of warmth. Unusually, I stuck to a single task, the priority being to get the wildlife pond extension finished.

Things went pretty smoothly, although as always seems to be the case, my levels went a bit haywire just at the finish.  I could readjust, but to be honest I think I will leave well alone.  It is, after all, an allotment pond, not a stately home water feature.  

The extras show where I got to be close of play. I plan to build a wee bridge between the two larger ponds, so they will end up looking like a single tract of water. The blue barrel at the end is much deeper - close to three feet. I may install membrane to allow water to flow from it to the other ponds and a solar pump to take water back to the blue reservoir. That would improve the water quality, but that has not really been a problem, so chances are I will let things be.  Time will tell.

The area around the ponds measures about five by six meters (overall a Scottish allotment is about 30 by 10 meters). I've put a plum tree on dwarf rootstock in place and I plan to add one more fruit tree. The plan is then to add perennial veggies, herbs etc. to the beds to create something approaching a forest garden.  The wee wood-chip paths are to provide access to the beds for maintenance and harvesting. 

So all in all, a fine, stress-free and satisfactory day: full of light exercise in the open air and the occasional natter with other plotters.  What's not to like?