Continuing the revamp
By seaburngirl
18 comments
Well what can I say, the end is nearly in sight.
My lovely other half has cut all the pavers into half 9" pavers to insert on and.
Now few of you know my OH and there are days when I’m not sure I do either, but he made sure the sides were square and I do mean square! It also had to be straight with reference to the pond and the path by the greenhouse.
He then measured up the tiles and said the bed needed to be deeper. Oh goody more planting space for me. He started setting the pavers in but I finished them off. He kept giving them a critical look; they rise and fall abit due to the shape of the ground, but hey-ho it all adds character.
“You know what you need?” he muttered shortly after I’d put all the edging tiles in. “Coffee?” I replied hopefully. Now dont get me wrong he does make a good coffee but no not this time. Finials was the response, the ball/cornerstones. I couldnt find genuine ones so I have 4 modern ones that will dirty down and over time blend in.
The soil was then raked back almost level.
I then went behind the garage to rummage among the various bags of aging leaf litter to pick the more appropriately rotted ones. This will improve the soil and help with the acidity so the plants that go in will be happier. We did find clay and chalk in the footings for the pavers.
So the sun shone all day, the bed is now ready for the worms to take the leaf litter down, providing the blackbirds and robins dont get them all.
Finally OH assembled the rose arch and we placed it over the bird bath. I also moved the bird feeders nearer to the conservatory. I will have to wash all the concrete dust off the path/greenhouse etc. or wait for it to rain. It will stay dry now; you watch!
A brilliant day, just have to wait now to get the plants in.
Hope I can wait a week or two.
Dont put money on it though :o)
2 Mar, 2013
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Previous post: Dry and sunny: perfect for planting.
Next post: I am being patient [conifer bed revamp 4]
Comments
How exciting, a new area to plant up, the rose arch and the bird bath are looking good already. I look forward to seeing the next installment!
2 Mar, 2013
That looks brilliant as it is so its gonna look spectacular once its planted up. You really went to town and made the most of the good weather.
2 Mar, 2013
What a great achievement by a brilliant double act - hope he managed to find time to make you coffee as well!
2 Mar, 2013
A lot of hard work done.Your soil must be good.We can't do work like this on ours yet.It would just turn into a mud bath!(heavy clay, still very wet)
3 Mar, 2013
I like that Sbg. You both must have been exhausted after that, but what a lovely satisfied feeling. I look forward to seeing that progress with plants.
3 Mar, 2013
Looking good. May I suggest that if you want to 'age' the finials quicker, that you paint them with yoghourt. An old antique dealers trick that I learned when I retired from my 'proper' job and became a partner in an antiques business for a few years. It will age them as much in one year as you would normally get in 6 or 7. And don't anybody ask what flavour. :o))
3 Mar, 2013
It looks a treat and thats even without the planting, I do like the way you have situated the arch with the birdbath underneath and I`m sure it will be a great success with the birds, I find they appreciate a quick escape route especially upwards, my hubby drives me mad when doing jobs like that especially with the spirit level so I smiled when you described yours.
Our garden slopes in places and you have to work with it, it doesn't matter how many times I build up my edging bricks and pavers, within a year they tilt yet again as the ground moves so now unless they look really out of sync or are a danger to me or the mower I have learnt to leave well alone, as you say it does add character to the garden.
Looking forward to seeing it all planted and do know that if it stays dry and you have the time then you won't be able to resist it, lol....
3 Mar, 2013
Must admit - I'm a stippler for a straight edge, so well done to your OH!
I'm loving what you have both created and I'm sure you'll have it looking like its always been there in no time!
3 Mar, 2013
A job well done. It looks great.
3 Mar, 2013
SBG, your OH is an absolute treasure! What a wonderful job he's done. It all looks fantastic. I do hope you keep posting pics for us to see the area progress,
3 Mar, 2013
Hi all; this was blog 3 in the series so it was a 15yr old conifer bed that had suffered from snow damage, 15yrs growth and wild bird seed sprouting.
So there has been a bed in the lawn for a long time now ydd. I have lots of plants already Louisa, Stroller, Cinders; hope I've not missed anyone.
Coffee finally arrived courtesy of daughter Wildrose.
already painted with yoghurt Sarra [out of date greek style one, no fruit haha]
The garden is quite high Paul and the ground drops away about 30ft to the fields below. As we are on chalk it drains quite well, but there is some clay and half of the bed will be in shade most of the day.
The spirit level was ditched almost immediately once we agreed we were not going to kevel the whole garden. But set square, pegs, string etc all came into play Lincs and Scottish.
Today was dry but over cast and Lincs were you looking over my shoulder??? I didnt plant anything but I did place the pots onto the soil. I have ferns, shrubs, pots of various bulbs, cyclamen coum & hederofolium, violets etc.
They will not get planted now for 2 weeks as I am in Newport seeing eldest girl next weekend.
OH just got on with his own little things today Waddy. He is renovating a comet dingy for the youngest girl so he has been out of the way for most of the day.
I always take photos so you will get to see how it does over the years.
3 Mar, 2013
I do like your edging stones. They look very nice. The arch adds character and height. It will look lovely when planted up.
3 Mar, 2013
This is wonderful Sbg...:>)
3 Mar, 2013
I got a job lot for an anniversary present about 10 yrs ago. A work mate of OH had moved into an old property. he was bemoaning the fact thatthe agrden was a mess and the gardener they had hired said the edges were old fashioned and had to go. He was skipping them! OH said he'd take them up and get rid if he liked. When we realised they were Victorian we thought we had died and gone to heaven. sadly the finials were broken.
I ache all over this morning :o(
4 Mar, 2013
Oh - poor you! At least you have the satisfaction of a (joint) job well done. What a transformation from the old area, though - I hope I can get to see it all 'for real'.
5 Mar, 2013
well its my turn to vist your neck of the woods but by all means call in should you be passing [passing haha!!]
5 Mar, 2013
I wish! :-(
5 Mar, 2013
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WoW i love it Seaburngirl, all of it, everything :) What a huge difference to an otherwise boring bit of lawn, I made over a small boring bed today, i wasn't going to plant anything but i did, i dug out some Big Daddy Hostas (phew that was hard) that overgrew there space and shifted plants around, So rewarding. Im looking forward to seeing your new area planted up even tho it looks brill just as it is lol.
ps didn't we have lovely sunny weather today..
2 Mar, 2013