Concrete and Blaise

Recent sunny weather and lots of rain has made the woodland garden very green and lush. This view is taken from the steps cut into the steep bank and the bare earth patch is a newly planted area. Trying to get a spade into this area for years now I had wondered why I kep hitting something solid. Scraping away the soil I found a large run of concrete that someone must have poured to waste at one time. Very odd - and I can't think that anyone I knew would have done this.

Using a bolster and hammer Gerry and I managed to extract the concrete. What a gouge in the ground once we had finished. But I have planted the area with the hazel from Ian Brown, there was a thriving Beech and I added a couple of Alder left over from my hedging plants. I also added some rhubarb and a blackcurrant since this is a sunny spot on the bank and why not start the process sooner rather than later of growing food in a woodland.

These next photos register that state of the ground behind the tennis club. Piled with waste blaise from the courts over many years and very little other than some holly and hawthorn clinging on for dear life, this is a sad looking area of the woodland.

Digger to the rescue.

An earth moving experience later and we have a cleared area .

This is just the first stage of making this area good. I'll write more later once things take shape. I am thinking about painting the fence as a minimum and certainly planting in front of it. The area is shady and cool- apparently just the sort of area that chickens would appreciate. Gerry having nightmares at the prospect of dead chickens and maurading foxes. I have dreams of fresh eggs picked up from the woodland floor and placed in wicker baskets lined with a chequered cloth. Expect truth might sit somewhere between the nightmare and the dream.

In the meantime if anyone ever needs to move soil or waste from a garden, don't hesitate to hire a mini digger. It will drive through a standard gate width. Its easy to use and it will save hours and days of back breaking work. We hired one from Basically Tool Hire in Newbattle.