Autumn garden chores completed

Autumn garden chores completed

Every year  since I returned from working abroad, I have set myself the target of adding a good dose of compost to the vegetable beds, sowing mustard (green manure), digging it all in when the mustard had gown well, then sowing some more mustard and letting it grow and then die over the winter.  Once upon a time I could manage this effortlessly.  The last few years it has required a big effort, and frequent stops.  But little by little, and a bit later than usual, I have completed the tasks.   There is nothing to match home-grown vegetables; this requires attention to the soil.  Not cost effective, no doubt, but well worth it.  Tomatoes, potatoes and runner beans were this year some of the best ever. 

Suffering from cardiac failure, however inaccurate the term, leads to some soul searching.  Will I still be here next year? If still here, will I be fit enough to do all the raising from seed, planting and tending etc?  Am I foolish to waste valuable time preparing veg beds that may not be used next year?  Who knows?    I prefer to be positive.  However tiring, I actually enjoy managing the beds.  I would be extremely sorry if in a fit of pessimism I left the veg beds untended, and found next year I was fit enough to do the usual garden work, but the beds were not properly prepared. 

I am keeping reasonably fit, though wonky knees make walking hard on some days.  I am sticking to bedroom exercises (Bedex) several times a week, and have now refined them:

Warm-up: alternate knees up, then legs up and back, heel raising (single leg raising much harder for me) and deep breathing.  Aim for at least 10 repetitions for each. 

Main exercises.  Sit/stands, slowly with control), wall press-ups, single arm curls with dumbbells rather than bands, single arm  dumbbell presses (lying on back to reduce pressure on back) and the “dead bug” exercise for the back (watch the elegant demo on U-tube), and more sit/stands.  For each I aim for at least 10 to 20 repetitions

Cool down: marching and lots of stretches, especially hamstrings. 

Unfortunately there are days when lethargy makes even these exercises hard.  I work on the notion that even doing some of them is better than doing nothing.