The Road to the Orchard

The Road to the Orchard 

The bonfire was still too damp to burn. If the weather holds though, we might have a go tomorrow, but in the meantime, there are plenty of other things to be getting on with.

The area behind the garage needs a path for easy access between the patio and the vegetable garden/orchard. It is rather uneven and higher than the top of the steps. We needed to make it the same height as the steps and to put down more paving slabs. In all, I will need 45 slabs to do the entire path. I think I can muster about 40, but that might be an over-estimate.

The first thing to do was start to remove the soil above the path level; at some points it was at least 18 inches above where it needs to be. There was nothing for it but simply to dig it out.

We loosened the soil as far as the end of the first third of the garage (ie about 10 feet along the path) and cleared completely about half of that area.

It took at least 8 of these and we are still no more than half way there - and that's only the first 10 feet!!

The debris, soil and all, has been placed on the bonfire because it is riddled with roots from nettles and brambles. These will not break down adequately in the compost, so leaves it open for them to start to grow again when the compost is put on the beds. As we don’t want that, I am burning the soil. Anything left in the area of the bonfire will either be placed on the compost heap (potash is good for the soil), or left where it is to help fill in the space where the raised part of the patio will go.

It was really hot today, so we worked in the morning and then did nothing in the afternoon until much later when the worst of the heat had dissipated. Even Storm was too hot and kept either lying on the soil we had cleared (damp and cool) or some way down a rabbit hole she is excavating. At the rate she is going, we won’t have to take down the big mound, or dig out the large elder, as she will have done most of the work for us!

She can actually get right inside, but of course wouldn't oblige for the camera!

We only managed to lay one slab; getting the soil not only level but at the right height for the path is harder than it at first appears. OH did attempt to lay a second slab, but, would you believe it? The next slab is a quarter of an inch thicker than its neighbour L

The path will be three paving stones wide, eventually. The third slab at the top of the steps is 6 inches wider than the rest. I only have one other that size, so the plan is to lay three square ones across the path and then add two bricks on the need to fill up the additional 6 inches, and make a nice edge between the path and the garden bed.

Still, that will be relatively easily fixed, but tomorrow, not today. Then it is just a matter of clearing the rest of the loosened soil – then on to the next 20 feet.

And just to show I really am doing a lot of this work myself, with help from OH of course, when I had finished today, I was completely filthy! I don't think I have been this black since I was a child! Looking forward to a long hot bath J