Hampered

In all this digging, we have been somewhat hampered by the amount of junk and rubbish we are finding beneath the soil. No sooner do we start to loosen the soil than we hit an obstacle – literally in some cases. 

Bricks:

Concrete breeze blocks:

It's standing up now, but it was laying down before, waiting for the unwary digger to hit it with a spade and jar their arms!

Slate:

Corrugated iron sheets:

Wooden beams:

This one is about 8 feet long and 6 inches square; there have been others!

A pair of pliers!

I found a screwdriver later too!

Plastic bottles:

Glass bottles:

Not to mention stones, wire, plastic sheeting, plastic bags and the inevitable nettle roots, of course.

No wonder it is taking so long! It all takes time to find out what the new ‘treasure’ is, dig it out and remove it to the ever growing pile of builders’ rubble we are gathering. J

Nettles Again!

It’s been a bit of a mixed day today. We started off by trying to light the bonfire – I say ‘trying’ – it looked good to begin with, but the flames fizzled out within a few minutes. It is still too damp, I guess L

The next job was going to be to continue the path. But then the nettles started to get in the way L

These nettles are some that were cleared earlier in the spring, but because I chopped them down with shears they have regrown and needed removing again. This time, we did the job properly and pulled them out by their roots. Not that we got all the roots by any means, but they don’t grow as rapidly when pulled up. Nettles, like many weeds, are pretty clever really. If you cut them down, they go into survival mode – not only do they regrow rapidly to enable them to set seed, but they grow several shoots from the previous single stalk.

After about half an hour - OH's bit: 

He did about 24 square feet

My bit:

 I did about 4 square feet!

A couple of hours later and the area behind the garage is clear of nettles and thistles once again.

And a huge pile of nettles to show for it:

I hadn’t realised quite how large this area is. The garage is in three sections, each about 10 feet wide. The section nearest the top of the new steps is longer by about 15 feet, which leaves an area about 15 feet by 20 feet, inset behind the longer section of garage. It is where we used to dump the grass clippings before we built the new compost bin.

The height of the grass clipping at its highest above the level of the new path is around 12-18 inches, sloping back towards the garage wall. The path is about level with the layer of bricks three up from the lowest one you can see in the next photo; the highest part of the path/bed is about level with three bricks higher than that:

I am going to level this area (level with the path approximately) and make another garden bed, with a gravel-filled drainage channel between the back of it and the garage wall. I think some slow growing conifers would be good, as it does get quite a lot of sun, despite it facing north. 

The area opposite, on the other side of the path, is currently where the ‘mound’ is (where I removed the elder the other day) and where the bunnies have taken up residence. This too will be levelled and a cottage garden bed will grow there against a backdrop of roses, honeysuckle and the elder I am leaving in place along the fence.

Having cleared all the nettles, OH removed the huge pile and added it to the bonfire. Then he cleared the loosened soil from the path. We extended the path area by another 4 feet, so not much progress there. 

That dip in the middle is just about at the entrance to the rabbit warren

The path is nearly back as far as a rabbit hole that is now right in the middle of the path. I think this one is disused, because we put a piece of slate across the front of it and it is still in place.

All done for today J

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

And in the Afternoon...

After a successful morning clearing behind the garage, I was inspired to continue the job.

The garage is about 30 feet long; the area that needed clearing was therefore 30 feet long by around 16 feet wide. I cleared about 10x16 feet of it this morning; this afternoon, I had a go at the rest, while OH was out. 

Looking from the corner of the garage towards the new patio area, but showing the bit that needs clearing behind the garage

Now I may be a modern woman, but I am not up to using the chain saw, especially when I am here alone - so the whole thing was done using a pruning saw, a pair of long handled loppers and a pair of shears. Nettles were cut down to about a foot or less from the ground, then pulled out by hand (hands wearing gloves, of course!)

There were several more elders that have been cut down as low as I could get them, doing it by hand.

This one is massive and will take a LOT of digging out!

Light at the end of the woods; I was quite relieved when I got so far that I could see the fence round the vegetable beds through an ever thinning canopy of trees. Up to that point, it seemed like I was going to continue forever!

The mound is now more evident and there is plenty of evidence of rabbits at work. The rabbit holes seem a little large - till you realise that my number one excavator, Storm, has been taking a look.

There were some interesting moments too. First, I found a bird's nest. Thankfully it wasn't inhabited and in fact, I don't think it has been used this year, which was a relief.

Then to prove the elderflowers are useful, a lovely butterfly came and sunned itself on one right by where I was working.

I also found this:

Not sure at all what it is, but a gall of some kind - an insect's nest.

The bonfire is now around 30 feet long and 8 feet high!!

So, the area still needs a bit of TLC - the stumps need to be dug out and the ground needs raking, to clear up the nettles and little bits that are lying on the surface J

You can now see the gateway to the vegetable garden/deep beds in the distance 

All in a Morning's Work

As the bonfire is in the way for continuing with the seating area at the moment, and as it is too wet to burn, and as it is way too big to move, I decided to clear the area behind the garages instead. 

Meanwhile OH laid the final slab on the new steps (at the top of the ramp-to-be). I had to leave it yesterday because it rained heavily just as I was finishing making the area level.

So the area behind the garages. It is covered with elder and the usual 4 - 6 foot high nettles and brambles. This area stands between the new patio and the vegetable garden. Elder is lovely in the spring (when not smelling of cat wee) and the berries are useful for the birds in late summer. So why do I want to clear it? If you stand on the new patio and look towards the vegetable area, you would be facing due west. As we all know, the sun sets in the west. With all those bushes in the way however, it shades the patio from the sun and makes it seem rather dark. The patio gets full sun from the south all afternoon, but if we wanted to use it in the evenings, it would be too shady. So there is nothing for it but to clear the area.

The area cleared this morning measures about 10 feet by 15 feet. If you look closely, you can see that under the bushes yet to be cleared, there is a mound of earth. It is some years since we first looked at the possibility of making a patio here - the mound is all the soil that was dug out to make the area level (over 35 feet, it lost 18" in height, sloping; not practical for a patio). I never quite finished it, which is just as well, because the seating area is now going to be raised a little higher than the rest of the paved area - not finishing means I have less work to do to refill the raised area, if that makes sense.

The mound

The mound of course used to be completely bare. But then the nettles and brambles invaded and so did the elder. So too did the rabbits! This is where they have set up their home on our property. Unfortunately for them, the demolition team is starting to move in!! Storm (our dog) has already started excavating - she loves it under there and comes out completely filthy from digging to see if she can find any little bunnies. Well she finds it impossible to catch them when she chases them off the lawn.

[Funny story: the other day, a small rabbit ran away as we approached in the garden. Storm started to chase it, but then lost it. As she ran across to the gate into the long garden, where the rabbits usually go, said small bunny hopped into the middle of the lawn, saw Storm so did a quick U-turn, and fled into the bushes nearby. Storm ran past it without so much as seeing it! No wonder she doesn't catch any of them!]

Some of the roots are huge and spread quite a distance - this is an elder root, that is still attached to the ground:

Naturally, the bonfire is growing rapidly.

I am leaving some elder along the fence line, because yes, they are useful - and they make a rather pleasant, delicately flavoured wine too.

A good start, I think J

Ramps

Ramps

Well, between bursts of rain, I haven't managed to do a great deal really L

Next to the steps we created yesterday, I am putting a ramp, to enable the wheelbarrow to travel easily between one part of the garden and another. We don't have a shed in the vegetable garden, so ramps are a necessary part of life.

I levelled the top where the next slab is going to go. It is 6 inches longer than the rest, so it will be placed sideways, making the ramp 2 feet 6 inches wide, which is plenty for a wheelbarrow to get up.

Being 25% bigger, it is also 25% heavier. It also wasn't particularly close to the site where it is to be laid. OH rolled it (if you can be said to roll something that is rectangular!).

When we first laid it, we realised it was about 1/4 inch lower than the slab next to it. We lifted it again and began to raise the level slightly - and then there was a huge cloud burst, so rain stopped play L

It doesn't look like it's going to stop any time soon, so nothing more doing today. Never mind, tomorrow is another day, as they say J