And there's more... but not the pool!

I promised to tell you about other areas in which we've progressed this week and here I am.  Some weeks seem to drift by with very little to show for them but this one is not one of them.  Quite the reverse as we seem to have made great strides!  Of course, the dramatic changes to the pool and its surrounding area have helped but nonetheless, I feel that, in general, things are really taking shape now.

Firstly, let me show you this...    

I can almost hear you frowning and saying, 'yes, it's a pallet leaning up against the wall'!  So it is BUT it's more than that.  Danny has fixed it to the wall of the piggery that I use as my 'garden shed'.  And this is what its for....

...all my garden tools are now standing neatly in between the wooden slats!  It needs some refinement, in the shape of clips to hold up the shorter tools, but even so, isn't it good!  I have to confess that we stole the idea from our local déchetterie (tip) where they have their 'clearing up' tools stacked in similar fashion!           





The kitchen doorway is progressing, somewhat slowly, but that is because John (quite rightly) has given priority to the pool.  We do now have the use of the kitchen door, which is every bit as useful as I thought it would be!  But there's still some way to go in building up and making good the walls around the doorway, as these latest pictures show....
                 

 

 

 

There were two other achievements in the garden this week. 

 

Firstly, my potager beds got filled up with top soil.  Danny and I had spent days the previous week or so, putting in a layer of rotted compost but we took advantage of Phil the digger man being here this week to do the rest of the filling.  It was quite appropriate really because as he was scraping off the top soil from around the pool, he was loading it in the dumper and taking it down to fill the potager beds.  It's so much easier when you have the right gear; both beds were filled in no time at all!  Here's what it looked like in action and after the event!

Now I have quite a bit of work to do to get it forked and raked over, before the fun bit of planting my vegetables can be done!!

The other achievement was clearing out the bottom left hand corner of the garden.  I have zoomed into the picture above and have cropped it to give you some idea of what that corner looked like "before"...

A conifer hedge came out at a right angle to the boundary hedge.  Behind it was the compost heap and beyond that was an overgrown fig tree.  The compost heap, while useful, had become a smelly playground for the dogs because they were able to just run onto it and root around in it. Yuk!

We decided to have the hedge removed, spread the remaining compost out and replace it with a compost bin.... Danny may just make one from the many pallets now lying around the place!

Our next plan is to use the area for growing soft fruit and what remains in the space, to grass over.  In the meantime, it has really opened up that area of the garden.  Danny has cut back the fig tree (revealing another tree we knew nothing about, behind it!) and all in all, I think it is a vast improvement on what it looked like before.   So here is, if not a final "after" picture, one which shows you what it looks like right now!

You may be able to spot some of the old conifer hedge still on the right hand side of that photo.  Let me tell you, we have already made three trips to the déchetterie today, getting rid of the cuttings.  It is no mean feat; they have to be cut to manageable sizes, schlepped from the bottom of the garden round to the front where the trailer is parked then hoisted on to the trailer for the journey down the road!  And I estimate possibly another three loads like that tomorrow and Monday.  What joy!  Still, when I'm picking my raspberries, strawberries and blackberries later in the year, it will have all been worth it!

Well, other than the final removal of the original pool steps (the ones that had sat on our drive for nearly a year but which turned out to be the wrong size!) that's about it in terms of a progress report.  Even this is progress though, as it clears yet another space on the drive!  Here is a little collage of the steps 'going'.... it took three men to do it!

If I can, I like to leave you with an amusing story or picture and I think you will enjoy this.  As long as it's not boggy and muddy in the back garden, we've let the dogs run around out there while John is working as they seems to like being out there with him.  They are always nosey and want to know what's going on but I think this was particularly funny......the title could easily be "Dog Inspection"!  What do you think?

Have a good weekend, all!

À bientôt!