GARDEN DIARY: WEEK FOUR

We arrived on Tuesday morning to find S had broken into the sheds and started taking random things that he thinks he can sell. I had mixed feelings about him and how he had mistreated the land. The deeper we went into clearing the land, the more I resented him. Yet, here he stood heavy cough, deep valleys accent, telling us how much every item he took was worth. At one point he presented me with an old greenhouse heater and proclaimed "this is worth £360" and shuffled off. 

As he was shuffling through the mess his wife stood in the background with pieces of tissues stuffed up her nose, on the tail end of a nosebleed. She observed the space we were in and said "well this looks a lot different from the last time I was here," I responded, "It's tidy," and walked away before I said anything I would regret. The whole exchange ended with S making D (our neighbour) take some half-used tomato feed and then insisting on taking one of the padlocks to the sheds. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!

By the end of the week, we had managed to finish dismantling the wooden greenhouse. It was built with a brick and wooden base, with wooden frames and heavy-duty double-glazed windows that have come from an old conservatory. By the time we tore the thing down, I had had enough. I knew what we had signed up for but the rubbish has been something else. My moment came when we had to remove all the plastic sheets that had to protect the greenhouse from rain. The construction was so slapdash that S had just used plastic to cover over all the gaps in the framework. The result has left us with disintegrated plastic and wood scattered in the ground. I could've cried. And I did. 

By mid-week, we hit Gumtree to look for someone to remove the rubbish. We were so achy and tired that we felt defeated. We are keen to get the land cleared so we can focus on what we are here to do -grow vegetables. In the meantime, the rest of the weekend is dedicated to clearing away all the pots and trays we've rescued. We need a break from dismantling and rubbish clearing. 

I know this will be all worth it in the end.