Thursday 22 July 2010

The planter is finished…

Just a few photos to show you the finished brick wall/planter/extra garden seating we built!

Before…

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During…

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We keep calling it the horse-trough!

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After…

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I know it’s probably not the best time to do it, but I carefully uprooted a lovely pink climbing rose from the front garden to plant around the window. It looked a bit sad for a few days but with plenty of watering and some food it looks fine.

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Just need to sort out that patch of bare earth with grass seed or turf and it’s done! I collected the clump of chamomile that had self-seeded on that spot and hung it in the greenhouse to dry. Every morning when I open the door I get a gust of drowsy scent, it’s lovely. I might have to make some tea.

Beccy

Thursday 15 July 2010

Don’t weep Mr bricklayer…..

it’s only a little poorly constructed wall!

Stop two on the procrastination express is to build a little retaining wall for a raised bed.

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You’ve got to make an absolute mess first right?

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Laying strip foundations – the ground slopes so we had to make them split-level. Is that allowed in bricklaying? I have no idea!

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The first two courses, in total about 12 bricks, took two hours!

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And as it looks now, my good friend Elle came to help today and we built a lot more in less time. Ok so it’s not perfect but they are really old bricks – some were even found when the builders dug the foundation for the workshop. They were all shapes, sizes, colours and some were warped and cracked.

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You’ll notice the other end has a curve? I’ll take a photo of that when we’ve finished, if it passes muster. If not, I’ll be making judicious use of pots!

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Hopefully it will be finished tomorrow (if the rumours of a half day at work are correct) and then I can plant it up with the increasingly sad-looking plants that have been waiting in the greenhouse for weeks.

The shelves are coming for the workshop next week, as is the lady from the council’s planning office to decide whether we can teach from there (eep! Wish us luck)

We’re also taking our Victorian mangle to college to get it sympathetically converted to a slabroller. This is really important for us because we use a lot of clay slabs and it’s a backbreaking job rolling them by hand. A new slabroller can set you back £1500 so using an old mangle is not only eco-friendly it’s also vastly cheaper.

Anyway, I’ll keep you posted!

Beccy