Day 58 - Please... no more digging...

Apologies for the delay in posting, Google broke Picasa integration with Blogger and I haven't been able to upload any images since. They've just fixed it and we're back in business.

Here's a post from the start of the month that never made it up, more recent pics to follow shortly!

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Martha has been off work this week and has done an amazing job digging over all of the beds and weeding them - a herculean task. During breaks between the toil she finalised our plant order with the local wholesalers and the plants arrived onsite on Thursday ready for planting.

I joined the fight this weekend and helped finish off the digging and began planting up the beds. Backbreaking work but worth it. We have our herb garden in with the stone bird bath from Marlings Park taking pride of place.

Next up - lots more planting!

I've also ordered all of the wood for the pergola too, should arrive this week so Andy and I will be getting our chippie tool-belts out and seeing if a couple of software developers can build something out of oak.

How hard can it be?

           

Day 51 - Pigeon Spikes

We have had some trouble since the house was finished with doves nesting on our chimney and making one hell of a mess of the place as a result. I finally had enough last week and ordered up some pigeon spikes from an online specialist.

After an hour of scrubbing, scraping and pressure washing I had finally cleaned up the chimney and the floor beneath it. Totally covered in what I can best describe as "pigeon poop splash-back" I then briefly adjourned to clean up before I fixed the spikes in place.

The doves it turns out are not very happy about this turn of events and have been sitting on the roof making loud noises at me all day in protest.

I also filled in the vegetable bed today and worked in 180 litres of manure to improve the soil. Some of the plants have arrived from Mr Fothergills today so Martha and I can start planting up together tomorrow.

   

Day 50 - Grassy Knoll

Things have slowed down a bit recently since the groundworks were completed - its just me and Martha now.

Rupert lent a hand with the railway sleepers and we spent a very wet Sunday building the raised vegetable bed. I'm now in the process of filling it with what seems like an near infinite amount of topsoil...

The pier caps and coping stones for the wall arrived this week and Titch popped back to put them on for us. Very pleased, they look wonderful.

I have today and tomorrow off work to get some work done on the garden. Today the turf arrived for the lawn around 11.30 am after I spent the morning preparing the ground. Five barrow loads of weeds removed!

The lawn is now getting a thorough soaking to help it bed in, and after all that I think I may follow suit and find myself a nice, long bath!

     

Day 40 - Beds & Sleepers

The hard landscaping for Titch & Jack is almost complete now, with the bed edges and gravel last on the list.

The railway sleepers for the raised vegetable bed have arrived on site and I have Rupert popping over next weekend to help me assemble them - they weight 120KG each so its a bit more than a one man lift!

I have also been busy planting the trees in the driveway - five this weekend! - and managed to rescue the resident snow-drops that have survived everything we've managed to throw at them over the last three years.

Next we have to wait until the weeds take hold properly so I can nuke them with Roundup before we lay the turf for the lawn and start to improve the soil for the plants.

        

Day 30 - Paving complete

Work on the new paving has been steady since the New Year thanks to milder weather. The paths and circular patio are all in as well as a circular retaining wall around the apple tree that will eventually edge the lawn.

We've got the privet heading in at the back of the house and I'm going to plant up the box bushes today near the vegetable beds.

Planning permission came through to allow us to remove the spruce tree in the drive and the tree surgeons came last week to take it down. It makes quite a difference! Once the stump is out we'll be extending the bed to the west wall and edging in the stone just like the beds at the front of the house that you can see in the photos.

We decided to go with a full brick wall to screen the garden from the parking area and the bricks arrived on site last week, so that should be going up next week as long as we get a break in the weather so the mortar doesn't freeze.

Next up construction-wise is the pergola over the circular patio and railway sleepers to form the edge of the vegetable beds. Then we'll need to get some more gravel in for the paths around the vegetable beds and start talking to blacksmiths about railings and gates.

Oh and I've got a lawn to lay. Plenty to do!

        

Day 20 - Break in the weather

Happy New Year!

Progress has been slow on the garden hence my lack of posts. As soon as the cold weather decended at the beginning of December work had to stop as the freezing conditions would crack the mortar and made the ground impossible to dig.

All of the sandstone slabs are now down and almost all pointed, and work has begun again today with the black limestone edging. Andy and I put my shed up but it was too wet and cold to give it a proper coat of Cuprinol so its currently sporting an interesting set of orange highlights...

The hardcore around the vegetable beds is also in and the ground is prepared for the rest of the limestone so, weather permitting, we should see some good progress this week.

       

Day 8 - Slow but sure

Progress is slow but sure this week. The new stone is looking wonderful and we finally have the last piece of fence in between us and number 49.

The heat pump manifolds are going to need serious attention so I've asked Matt the plumber to pop over this weekend to help out, plus he can take a look at plumbing in the rainwater feed to the back of the vegetable beds.

    

Day 5 - Sandstone looking good

The sandstone has started to go down over the last few days, although we have been hampered a bit by the weather - high winds and driving rain on and off. To be expected really given the time of year.

The guys have done a superb job so far and the variation and fossils in the stone look great. They should weather down really well.

As soon as they have pointed up the stone in the back corner I'll get the shed ordered up. I'll be planting a few more trees this weekend and taking a look at the GSHP manifolds to see if I can lower them into the ground or if I'll neet to get Matt the plumber out for some more drastic surgery.