I'd read that a pond was a great wildlife attractor, and would be appreciated by the hordes of frogs and toads that I was uncovering each time I rolled the plastic sheeting up to make way for the next row of beds.  For environmental reasons I thought I'd go for a butyl liner (allegedly they decompose after a few decades), but after seeing the prices I plumped for a cheap and nasty PVC liner at 1/3 the cost and would last for centuries.  One Saturday and one huge hole later, lined with an old roll of carpet I found in the loft, the liner was in place, and the pond was born.  A bucket of pond water from our own garden as well as some donor cuttings finished it off, and a shallow side lined by gravel provides an easy exit for anything that falls in. From then on, all of the amphibious wildlife that I encountered (and managed to catch) was duly introduced to the new watering hole, in the hope they'd remember it next spring when they get frisky. I also managed to take a break from the never ending bed digging, and got round to actually doing some planting.  The potatoes had chitted up nicely and filled up 2 beds, although I had reservations about how well they would do.  Despite double digging, their beds were somewhat soggy, but I optimistically figured that at least they wouldn't go short of water in the summer!

In March I gave in and bought a Mantis Cultivator which is quite possibly the most labour saving device I have ever bought that I could also lift.  Basically it's a small petrol engine mounted on a pair of spinning tines, that according to the demonstration video could reduce even the most stubborn of soils into a fine tilth.  Just the chap for mashing the huge clods I'd been busily creating over the last 2 months.  It's also light enough to lift and maneuver in raised beds, something that's not possible with the heavy duty rotivators you can normally rent. The US manufacturers obviously had never encountered northern soils, and I quickly discovered that it lacked the horsepower for tackling virgin soil. However, provided that the soil wasn't too wet, it coped well with beds that had been roughly dug over, and proved to be fantastic later on for mixing in composts and manure.