22nd Thursday May 2008 – Hoe (mattock) RM12, 3 Wooden Rod RM12 and RM10 ruffian String was purchased for making the garden.
24th Saturday May – Was the initial stage for starting the garden. I came back from work at around 2 plus in the afternoon. The field where I wanted to change it to a garden was very dirty, messy and the soil was solid hard. To start of digging (As the field was stiff, the area had to be dug at least 10 to 15cm deep so that it would be softer and easier to create a garden), I had to first get the right location where I would dig. So I measured 3 locations making it a rectangle as shown below. Why 3? As there was a permanent barricade, I used the barricade as one of the pillar and put 3 other wooden rod making it a rectangular. Before I hammered the rod in, I used a metal rod to get the hole for the initial depth, so that the wooden rod would be easier to naile into the ground. Of course the metal rod was smaller than the wooden rod, so as not to spoil the grip when the wooden rod was inserted into the ground. The wooden rod was inserted and a brick was used to knock it in so that it would go as deep as it can and a better grip would be formed. I assume the wooden rod might at least be inserted 30cm into the ground. After the entire 3 wooden rod inserted, I used the ruffian string to enclose the 3 wooden rods, making it as a fence. Now the garden was completely fenced, (refer below at the drawing) and as I observed, it was around the size of a badminton court.
It was around 4pm when I started digging the field. Let me tell you it was not easy to dig the ground, as it was solid dry and I had to endure the pain when I dug. So to make things easier, I filled pails with water and poured it into the ground so as to soften it. I might have at least poured 4 to 5 pails of water. About 5 minute later, when the ground was softer I started to dig. It was sure more easy compared to the hardened ground, but only at the depth of 5cm further more down it was harder as the water didn’t penetrated deep enough. It was sure painful, and tiring and the sun was not sparing me either. Luckily one of my room mates Indra was around and he helped me dig. As there was only one hoe we took turns digging. Finally around 6 plus we decided to stop the digging due to tiredness and it was time to cook dinner. As observed, only 20% of the area or less was completed.
As I wanted to continue the next day, I had to sprinkle water to the field so as to make the ground softer. As carrying the pail and pouring it was a heavy choice, I decided to use a water hose instead. The only hose we had was only about a meter and I couldn’t find a longer hose from my neighbour. I had no choice but to use our own hose to sprinkle the water. Luckily for me, the incoming water force was strong and I had to grip hard at hose end so as the water could go as far as it can. The water reached almost up to 60% of the field length and I believe it was enough to soften the ground for tomorrow work.
25th Sunday May 2008 - I woke up as early as around 7am. I went out to see the garden and to my surprise, I saw Narayan digging the field. He was digging and there were others too, Deepak, Basanta, Kumar, Harka. They took turns digging and I joined in too. While the digging was proceeding, some went to prepare lunch. Another 25% of the area was completed by 10am and the boys were tired and they said it was better to continue next week. Well it was disappointing to hear this, but I had to understand their opinion. So around 11am after my lunch I left the hostel to accompany Buddhi Man Tamang to the Hospital. He was to be admitted as he had to be operated on Monday. The agents who were supposed to send him couldn’t as it was Sunday. So I took the initiative to accompany him.
I came back around 4pm after admitting Buddhi at the hospital. As I had the heart to continue digging, so I proceede. It was very tiring and the hoe was bent at the rod area due to excessive force used when digging. It had to be straightened every now ant than before continuing. It was sure pretty tiring and I had to take break every now and than and puffed my cigarette along the away. Finally around 7pm plus I stopped and another 40% was completed. Now what was left was only 15% of the area untouched. But I couldn’t go on as I was worn out and it was already dark and the mosquito was enjoying every bit of my precious blood. I had to stop or else I would be sucked out of my blood because of our friendly friend “the mosquito”.
26th Monday May 2008 – Well as usual, I was ready to leave for work. Once I stepped out of the hostel, Basanta and Vijay were ready to dig the ground. So I bid them farewell and I had hoped they will finish the remaining 15%.
When I came back around 6 plus from work, it was disheartening to hear that the hoe was broken and now another hoe had to be purchased.
29th Thursday May 2008 – I bought a new hoe at RM6. It was much smaller compared to the first one I had bought. I had a drink and was a bit tipsy. Around 7pm plus I wore my jeans and headed to the field. I started digging. It was much tougher as the hoe was smaller and I had to use less force to prevent it from breaking. 10% of the area was completed and Deepak came in to help me. We took turns to dig and around 8:30pm it was totally completed. Now the whole area was completed and the area was softer and with my heart contended I continued my drink.
31st Saturday May 2008 – Woke up early in the morning, had no work so prepared lunch and it was ready before 9am. Had it with my roommates and the chours was done. By 9 plus I was already on my garden. As all the area was already dug, further more it had rained heavily the previous day. I had less problem doing the arrangement. I started out from the centre. I had wanted to use ruffian string to get a perfect square, so a circle could be made. But I changed my mind at the last minute due to time waste and human error. I estimated the centre and the square was formed and the centre of the square attained. By 11am the circle was created and the centre waste of sand was removed (Diagram 1). With this done, I had another idea and thought if there was a heavy rain, there was sure bound to have a flood so a drain like system had to be made. So by 12pm 2 long drain construction (Diagram 2) was started. Luckily for me the day was cloudy and it prevented the torturous sun from burning me out. The making of the drain was more tiring to make compared to the rest, as it had to be dug further deep down and sand had to be scooped out. It took more than 2 hours to be completed. In between I had rest and settled other areas too. By 3 I had already started on the other areas (Diagram 3) by seeking Harka help. It was not easy to get a straight line while working and arranging at the same time. Someone had to be observing the work. Harka helped me in the process of getting a straight line of protruding sand. Finally around 4pm every thing was set and the design was created. Now the final touch up was to clear the unwanted material from the sand and to harden the side that was protruding upwards. By 6 every thing was touched up and on some of the area was sprinkled with seeds.
