Operation Summer House - Part 2

It has been raining the last couple of says so the weeds have grown considerably. The minute my back is turned, they flourish!! They need stripping from the soil, so as the weather was greatly improved today, I set about de-turfing the area.

I was a little concerned about these little guys though:

If you can't quite see, it's a worker bee. From the sound, you would think there were hundreds, but using my eyes instead of my ears, I saw no more than half a dozen. It seems they have taken up residence in the soil behind where the playhouse stood. There are few enough bees these days, so I really don't want to disturb them, so I'm not sure what to do with them. Stripping the turf shouldn't be a problem as that doesn't dig down to where they seemed to have their front door. Just don't want to get stung. OH said worker bees can't sting; I have no idea if he is right, but I didn't want to put his theory to the test!

Stripping has commenced:

I lost count of the number of times we filled the wheelbarrow. The intention was to compost the turfs, but there were too many roots of nettles, ivy and buttercups (none of which I want to transfer to the vegetable garden), so they have gone instead onto the bonfire site. The resulting ash will go on the compost without fear of growing weeds where we don't want them.

 All the way back to the wall - well, one spade width anyway:

Just this bit left now:

Another spade width:

Or two:

Oh dear, what happened to the lovely blue skies?

Still, I got a bit further, before going inside for some lunch. The trouble with gardening is it makes you hungry and I really don't need the calories. How to balance a need for energy with not eating too many calories - hmm, I'll have to think about that one:

Like I said - too many calories:

But the sky behind is blue again:

OH took the previous photos - I don't have a selfie stick, let alone one that long!! 

He also cleared the last bit of the surface for me - it was riddled with ivy roots, making it very hard to skim off:

And then I started to lower the soil level. I had intended that this part would go on the vegetable plot, but the roots had run too deep to make that a safe or sensible option, so it went onto the bonfire pile. At least it will be sterilised before it gets onto the garden:

The plan is to make it a little lower than the concrete raft, then make the raft larger by concreting alongside the original raft; or maybe I will just put down some weed suppressing medium and cover with dolomite (a mixture of sand and gravel) and roll it flat. Not sure yet.

I stopped about here; don't want to do too much too soon:

I did have a bit of other 'help' too:

She seemed to have enjoyed herself, but she did get a bit mucky!! She's supposed to be white round her neck!

'Operation Summer House'

At long last we have decided to get rid of the playhouse. We no longer have children at home and the one we bought it for turned 18 last month! Besides, it was somewhat derelict – the roof was rotting and the floor was through to the ground in places.

  It looks quite large - till you stand a normal adult person next to it

A quick view of the inside - it still had a child sized picnic table in it, and a sand table and sand play toys

The local riff-raff had taken up residence in it as a den for drinking illicitly (and quite probably other things too). They left quite a mess and spilled alcohol is probably one of the reasons the floor rotted through.

Nearly done:

Gone! In a way it's quite sad to see it go, but it really wasn't doing any good any more and we can use the space for better things - like a 'playhouse' for grown-ups, ie a summer house! We intend to build our own, rather than buying one, so that's what this project is all about.

Next is operation clean-up

The rubbish was burned, but I didn't take a photo of the fire this time. I'm sure we have more than enough pictures of burning bonfires! The empty beer bottles went in recycling.

Round the edge of the concrete raft that the playhouse once stood on are (were) edging blocks. Each one is about 12" x 18" x 2". Believe me, they are heavy too! They went around two edges of the concrete area

One by one, I got them out and laid them across where they are going to be reinstated at some point. To the right of the line will be a flower bed - it has a tree at the far end and daffodils in there already. The rest is weeds. To the left of the line of blocks will be dug out flat and either grassed or concreted as a picnic area and will have a picnic bench on it. (It's bigger than it looks in this picture).

Digging the blocks out was no mean feat. Some came up easily enough; others I needed to dig a trench behind them and raise them out using the spade.

That's one edge done; now for the other side:

Good, got it out!

There were nine of them altogether:

Now, hopefully, you can see the size of the area. Concrete base in the foreground; grassy (read: weedy) area in the middle ground, then you can just make out the line of edging blocks laid in the weeds - beyond that is the flower-bed-to-be:

Ah, we still have to get rid of this stump - an old elderberry, self sown. It can't stay there

The soil is quite a depth and looks pretty good, apart from the weeds on top. The plan is to skim the surface, as if I was digging turf, put that layer on the compost heap, then use the under layer (hopefully without any weed roots) to fill up some of my deep beds in the vegetable garden

 The whole weedy bit will be levelled down to the same level as the path. Some of it will be concreted to enable a wider summer house to be built; the rest grassed (or maybe also concreted). At the moment, the front edge is held up by breeze blocks buried in the soil.

I took up the first three breeze blocks. They are full of soil and weeds. If I thought the edging blocks were heavy - these were heavier! You can see them, upside down here, further along the path. Well, two of them are along the path; the third is sitting up on the weedy bit. This is the distance to which we will definitely be concreting, for the base of the new summer house.

Still loads to do, but we are making progress: