Garden Project Update

 

Just an update really . . .

Here we have the finished shed - doors and fascias in place!

A new raised bed - using the old roofing from the Folly - and the piles of compost being dug out of the old compost bins as part of another project (more later!).

The positioning of the paving slabs has been decided upon, and that job is finished too.

Just a little more work to do on the ex-polytunnel / new fruit cage.

It now has an almost stone-filled plastic grid base in place - but we probably won't bother with netting it over this year (since there is no fruit yet to protect!).

Really pleased with how it is all coming along . . . and kudos again to Martin for all his hard work.

Project Shed

Having 'prepared the ground' and safely made it back home, it was time to get stuck into one of the major garden projects of the year - namely the construction of 'The Shed'.

We'd gone for a 8' x 6' shiplap pent shed, with windows and double doors - construction time supposedly around half a day with two people.

Martin did most of the work - my job was to hold things in place and help 'interpret' the instructions - but by the end of day one we'd only just got it 'up', roofed and felted.

At 7pm we decided enough was enough - the shed might be solid, but we were broken!

The doors and fascia boards would have to wait for another day . . .

Here We Go Again

Back from another trip across country to visit family - on my own this time, and once again it was a rather fraught experience car-wise - although I had a lovely visit with family and friends.

Along the way I ended up having the brakes 'done' on the car - we knew they were going to need doing soon, and as they had started making a bit of a noise, I took the car to a local branch of a nationwide company to get it sorted.  The work was duly completed (new discs and pads - calipers were pronounced ok) - no noise - all good (or so I thought!).

The problem came on the journey home, when 20 miles down the road the car slowed down, and didn't seem to want to 'go' at all.  

Managed to get to Huntingdon, where it became apparent that the brake on the front passenger side was 'stuck' (stock steamy image for illustrative purposes!). 

Fortunately there was another branch of said company not far away, but it was a good six hours wait, while everything cooled down, and new calipers (which were the problem!) were delivered and fitted.

Plenty of time for a mooch round Huntingdon - and for a visit to the local Wetherspoons (which has very nice loos!) where I sat reading my book.

Was finally back on the road around 2.30pm - new discs, pads and calipers on both front brakes (although, fair play, they only charged for the one caliper).  

Safe home again - and hopefully that's it for car troubles this year!

Preparing the Ground

With lots of garden 'projects' in the offing, the last few days have been spent preparing the ground as it were:

• A ton bag of pea gravel and some more paving slabs were ordered and delivered, to gravel over a problem area by the veg plot and create a new path across to the greenhouse.  

The gravel easily filled the area, with plenty left over for other projects - it's nice and deep too, so hopefully that will finally stop the weeds coming through!

Still deciding on the placement of the paving slabs!  

Looking at the new paving we also realised how overgrown the old path was - so project 'rediscover' the paving slabs was initiated!

• A new garden shed was ordered and delivered, requiring construction of a solid base to build it on.

We had the old greenhouse base (the greenhouse that got destroyed by Storm Arwen back in 2021) - and having never really done anything with the empty frame, Martin finally deconstructed it and started filling the base with stones and rubble from around the garden.  Some of the excess pea gravel also went in to level it off, and then some concrete mix was added to firm it all up.

Anyway it's all looking good - on to construction soon!

• Finally, decisions were made about turning the old polytunnel into a fruit cage, and a plastic grid base has been ordered for that (the rest of the pea gravel will be used to fill it).

Of course, this also required more ground levelling!  

Fair play to Martin, he's been working really hard . . .  but it is all coming together, and the garden is starting to look a lot tidier as a result.

More to follow . . .

Celebrations!

Last of our parents to mark that 'special birthday' . . .  family party, lots of food, cake and wine.  That's the 'full set' now . . .