Well, for better or worse, I've taken advantage of this dry week to rotavate all those areas of the 3 plots I'll be planting in this year. I decided to check if it was possible on Wednesday afternoon, and as it seemed to be working OK, I kept on, doing around 2-3 hours work on Wednesday, Thursday, and today. Total area about 6 poles on one ten pole plot, 5 poles on another, 2 poles on a 3rd. The remaining areas are down to fruit or perennials, so don't need that type of clear-through at the moment.
It was a bit heavy here and there, and I needed to clear out the tines a couple of times, but overall I'm pleased as it's the equivalent of getting the rough digging done, which has looked unlikely since November! I have damage to my spine and legs such that I can't really dig with a spade or fork very much, hence the reliance on machinery. This was my dear old Honda F410 rotavator , bought secondhand many years ago - they don't have a model quite like that in their range any more.
I'm hoping that, as the weeks go by, I'll get opportunities to move toward a fine crumbly tilth by raking, and by using a hand tool I treated myself to last Spring, and was very pleased with - a Wolf Garten 'soil miller'.
I'm in Oxford, where, although it's been a wet, mostly mild winter, we haven't had the extreme amounts of rain and flooding that some other areas have suffered over the past few months. I think rain is forecast again from next Tuesday, but now I feel much more optimistic about finally being able to do some serious planting in a few weeks time. In fact, I ended up by sowing a couple of rows of broad beans this afternoon....
