August's big garden project...

I thought it was time for a long overdue update on the first stage of our garden makeover. I mentioned last month that Jim had spent most of his summer leave last month working on a "big project." So just to recap here's a map of the garden, with the area Jim was working on marked by the red ring...

We're not entirely sure what the history of this bit of the garden is, but our best bet is that it was originally an Anderson shelter and sometime after the war, the metal top part was dismantled, the base filled with soil and trees were planted.

By the time we bought our house, over 80 years after the Anderson shelter was first designed, the trees had taken over and needed felling, so we were left with several enormous stumps and a partial brick base, with some irrigation piping woven into it from a garden pond that had been where our patio now is - A mess in other words! 

We considered hiring a mini digger to remove it, but access would have been problematic so Jim set about digging them out, removing most of the soil and then cutting up the stumps with a chainsaw

This is what he removed, three very large tree trunks that weighed a ton.

Once the area was clear we bought in some wooden sleepers. We didn't go for hardwood railway sleepers as we discovered creosoted ones are unsuitable for use near children and untreated tend to crack, so we bought treated softwood instead - a gamble we hope pays off! The result is an absolutely enormous raised vegetable bed which will be left to settle over the winter before being employed in the spring. It is right opposite our kitchen, so very handy for cooking!

The only other thing we will need to do in the new year is build some sort of fencing around it as we have quite a few rabbits who visit us!