Author Topic: Not sitting round (Read 13068 times)

Palustris · « **Reply #25 on:** May 19, 2020, 04:01:53 PM »

Only managed to remove one stump today, but it was a big awkward one with mahoosive roots. Fortunately the base of the tree was beginning to rot so the ones going straight down snapped easily once we got it so that we could push it over. Removed all the branches from the next stump, so tomorrow we should be able to get it out. There is an awful lot of brash to shred though. This last stump is not that big, but the soil round it seems to have been used to dump all the small stones from the garden, so digging may be a bit of a problem. However, I can use the stones when I make the next alpine growing feature.

Palustris · « **Reply #26 on:** May 20, 2020, 04:12:11 PM »

Well that is the final conifer stump removed. The stones were in a layer at the surface so once we removed them it was not too hard to clear the roots. The stump was rotting at the base, like a lot of them have been so not too hard to remove. The brash will need to dry out for a while before I shred it. The resin in it makes it very 'sticky' when it goes through the shredder and it blocks.
We have removed 20 stumps from this hedge row. (And at least seven from elsewhere in the garden and perhaps a dozen from the bottom hedge.).
Nothing much more we can do until the Fencing people come and put up the new fence.

ideasguy · « **Reply #27 on:** May 20, 2020, 07:19:55 PM »

I take it that you dug those stumps out manually?
You must have unbounded energy Eric.

I'm sure you are looking forward to planning and planting out your alpine beds

We look forward to photos of that!

Palustris · « **Reply #28 on:** May 20, 2020, 08:24:54 PM »

There is no other way of removing the stumps othe than by digging round the roots, cutting them with the chain saw and good old brute force. It has taken about 6 weeks to clear them from the top hedge. Worst part is still to come in that the stumps themselves need to be disposed of. Once the local re-cycling place is not as busy I will take them there, two at a time as they are rather heavy.

ideasguy · « **Reply #29 on:** May 22, 2020, 11:49:59 AM »

Look at the bright side - you have exposed a very large area of your new garden

That must have been a very pleasing sight.
Next to complete the transformation from the unsightly to the beautiful

Palustris · « **Reply #30 on:** May 23, 2020, 04:36:02 PM »

Fence people booked in for next month. Price is about what we expected and budgeted for . Need to finish digging over that bed, cut back the conifers which we are leaving in and shred the brash so they can get on with it, 20 foot run of conifers belong to neighbour so they have stopped in and the fence will go inside them, right up to the trunks. He can have the pleasure of keeping his side trimmed.

Palustris · « **Reply #31 on:** May 25, 2020, 08:16:52 PM »

Finished digging the bed next to where the fence will be. Shredded all the brash. Everything ready for them to begin.

ideasguy · « **Reply #32 on:** May 27, 2020, 01:42:21 PM »

You need a rest after all that hard work Eric

Palustris · « **Reply #33 on:** May 28, 2020, 11:34:14 AM »

Am sitting round today.
Created a path across the Drive side bed yesterday so that we can reach the Holly hedge for maintainance. I would like to extend the path along the side of the hedge, but we have run out of bricks for the edging. Since I made the path as much to use up a lot of bricks it seems a bit silly to go out and buy more,so will have to think again.

Palustris · « **Reply #34 on:** June 04, 2020, 08:26:41 PM »

Path building

We decided that we need to make a path so that we can access the Holly hedge along the side of the garden.

We had enough bricks to make a path across from the drive to the hedge.

The mulch had killed off the grass so it was easy to strip it off and remove the mulch at the same time.

I replaced some of the mulch as a foundation layer for when I put decorative bark down.

The section of garden between the Drive side bed and the Holly hedge.

Again the mulch had killed off the 'grass' underneath so it was easy to strip away the dead stuff.

Our neighbour gave us a large number of bricks to make one side of the path.

Putting them down in a straight line was fairly easy except where there were big tree roots from the hedge and the Rowan in the Drive side bed.

There were not enough bricks to go all the way to the shrub at the end. We will have to buy some to complete the path another time.

I used logs to make the right hand side of the path. The decorative bark finishes it off nicely.

Palustris · « **Reply #35 on:** June 04, 2020, 08:41:57 PM »

Top path

We needed a path across the top of the garden to get from one side of the middle bed to the Drive.

The bed has a curved top so the path followed that curve.

I used some pieces of old concrete roofing tiles to make a low wall .

I had enough to go round and down the drive a little way.

I added a second layer.

Finally I put a layer of nice stones which came from the old fire surround in the Living room.

For the other side of the path I used some more concrete roofing tiles which were lying around the garden.

There were enough of them to make the edging.

I covered the soil with mulch from when we shredded the conifer hedge to make a soft surface.

Palustris · « **Reply #36 on:** June 18, 2020, 10:05:02 AM »

Stumpery

We have removed a long Leylandii hedge from the rear of the garden. The trunks are slowly being removed by a neighbour who uses them for heating. The stumps which had to be removed from the soil to make way for a fence are too hard to cut up with an amateur chainsaw. So, we decided to use them to make a Stumpery.
This area seemed perfect for it.

Traditionally the stumps would be used with the roots upwards, but we felt that burying the roots would be more stable .
The first stump and the biggest was put in.

The area here seems to have been used as a dumping ground for every bit of building rubble and loose rocks from the rest of the garden. The rubble will go to the re-cycling yard, but the rocks I can use when I make an alpine plant growing area elsewhere.
The next row of stumps.

There is quite a large area between the Stumpery and the bottom of the garden.

The end of the first day of construction. The front part of the bed completed.

The left hand side. I made it slope down from the big stump to ground level at the back

I then began work on the right hand side, again sloping it down from front to back.
End of day two.

We decided that it would be more pleasing if the bed was not a regular shape and give more planting areas so the back stumps were put in at an angle rather than straight across.

I positioned a largish stump at the back ready to which I built out.

Now I began to fill in the gap from the right hand side to the back stump.

End of day three.

The gap from the back stump to the left was filled in.

The picture from this side shows the irregular shape of the bed.

I began to fill the bed with good leafy top soil.

Finally I cut back some of the overhanging branches from the trees in the hedge row to let in more light and rain. We cannot do anything to the Beech tree as it has a Tree Preservation Order on it.

The next job is to find plants which will grow in that situation.

ideasguy · « **Reply #37 on:** June 19, 2020, 04:48:12 PM »

That was a lot of hard work Eric

Thank you for taking the time to take photos as you progressed with the project and posting them here.
How doo youuu doooo it

Palustris · « **Reply #38 on:** June 19, 2020, 05:57:18 PM »

Biggest problem was that the soil is full of stones and rubble and roots. So to dig a hole I have to push in my fork which has needle points on the tines, waggle it back and too, use the extremely sharp 'D' lawn edger to cut the thinner roots and the loppers to cut any bigger ones. Then I can leaver out the lump of soil, bang it about until the unwanted pits are separate. Then I collect the rubbish and bag ready for taking to the recycling. The decent stones go to be used in another project. Repeat for the next lump and so on. Fun!
As for taking pictures, no trouble. I take one each time I stop for a cuppa!

Palustris · « **Reply #39 on:** July 17, 2020, 08:27:08 PM »

The top Fence.
In the beginning was a Leylandii hedge.

Digging out the stumps was a long, hard job.

Eventually all the stumps were removed.

The last section is not ours so we had to leave it in. We cut back the branches which came into our side.

The first two sections of the fence. Concrete posts and gravel boards.

End of the first day. The last piece took ages as there was a stump in the way which we had not been able to remove. The contractors managed it.

Almost to the end. The last section took a long time as it was over the top of the old drive.

Finished.

£2300 well spent we think.

Palustris · « **Reply #40 on:** July 24, 2020, 08:40:06 PM »

This part of the lawn was a pain to mow so we decided to get rid of it.

The turf needed to be lifted. I will use it to fill in a bare patch where there was just moss and no grass.

Strip after strip.

All gone.

Over the last year I have dug up a huge number of stones ranging in size from half inch gravel to 12 inch wide boulders.

The smaller stones I used as a sort of stone mulch. Since we do not intend growing anything in this section there was no need to dig over the soil. It is full of tree roots in any case.

Enough stones to cover the whole area. The piece behind the Scree bed will be planted up with shade loving shrubs, like Rhododendrons.

The area under the tree is hot really much use for growing either so I used more of the stones to cover the bare soil.

More than enough to cover it all.

Quite a pleasing result we feel.

And from the other side.

ideasguy · « **Reply #41 on:** July 25, 2020, 07:50:55 PM »

Looks great Eric. You sure are enjoying this

Looks like you are getting sunshine. Its been pretty miserable at times over here in Ireland this past week.

Palustris · « **Reply #42 on:** November 27, 2020, 05:38:59 PM »

The Garden in August this year.
https://imgur.com/a/tlrixDM
Done it this way for now, will post individual shots when I have more time.

Palustris · « **Reply #43 on:** November 28, 2020, 11:49:08 AM »

Our neighbours had a massive garden make over. I happened to go down the Drive as the workmen were bringing out the old paviors. "They look good!" says I as they began putting them in a skip. ""Do you want them?" asked the chap. "Yes please," says I.
So I got my wheelbarrow and began moving them on to our drive.

There were a lot of them. So I stacked them at the top of the Drive

I put them along the side of the Drive to give me an idea of what they would look like.

I began at the bottom of the Drive putting them so that about half the pavior was showing.
This did mean removing a lot of bits of tarmac covered gravel.

It was not easy as the Drive slopes and curves.

Looking back down the Drive. A pleasing result.

ideasguy · « **Reply #44 on:** November 28, 2020, 12:06:19 PM »

Excellent job Eric. One mans waste is another mans treasure.

You have lots of leaves there to make good natural mulching.

Palustris · « **Reply #45 on:** November 28, 2020, 12:36:09 PM »

There were still a lot of the paviors left so I decided to use more of them to edge another one of the beds.

Looks as if it should have been fairly straight forward, but the path edge is not straight and there were bits of cement into the soil.

Looks good and did not take that long. Hopefully it will stop the mulch from spilling over on to the path.

Palustris · « **Reply #46 on:** November 28, 2020, 12:37:27 PM »

Still lots of them left. Every time I thought we had used them all up, the workmen brought out more.
So I used them to edge another part of the garden where the soil spills over on to the path.

I also decided to build a raised bed with them. This was a bit of an experiment to see if it could be done without using mortar.

I riddled a lot of top soil to fill the bed'

It will have to be left to settle and for the inevitable weed seeds to germinate before planting up.

ideasguy · « **Reply #47 on:** November 28, 2020, 12:49:56 PM »

Gosh - that neighbour was chucking away tons of those paviors.
Sometimes, they come with concrete attached. Yours look as clean as new!
Love the raised bed!! You've given me an idea

I have loads of concrete blocks piled at the hidden part at the top of the garden.

Palustris · « **Reply #48 on:** November 28, 2020, 12:57:34 PM »

Some of them did have mortar on them but it was very easy to knock off with a brick hammer.

Palustris · « **Reply #49 on:** November 28, 2020, 12:57:48 PM »

Not only were they removing paviors there were also a large number onive house bricks. They did not want them either so I used them to finish off the path along side the Holly hedge.

Not that hard except for where this Laurel stump was in the way. It took some cutting down to below the path level. Laurel wood is very tough.

Not easy to get it in a straight line because of tree roots

As before I used some of the tree branches as an edge under the Holly.

I extended the path along side the Compost heap area down to the Drive.
We covered the path in bark mulch.

Still lots of bits of paviors so I made a pth in front of the Compost heap. Here I used some of the tarmac gravel to give us a dry area to stand on when adding to the heap.