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And so did going to the allotment with my husband: it's a nice feeling looking up and see that he is digging.
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There's an awful lot to do, and it's better taken in chunks, so that we figure out what would come out best. So I left it, and went to clear my pond from a heavy blanket of couch grass that had covered it completely. I am gradually also clearing all the beds from weeds: about time, as the bulbs are already pushing through and there's a risk of damaging them.
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Unfortunately my complacency with rats over the last summer has bitten back: a huge mound of crumbly soil under the derelict shed of the previous owner (which I still haven't pulled down and transformed in a compost heap - is sure sign of them burrowing in. Luckily I had some pellets with me, which I scattered in the hope they will eat and die. Unfortunately I forgot the butter to load the trap, but next time I will go armed with that too!