First spade depth done - extra plans

Well it was this morning that I finished having turned in the manure to a depth of 1 spade (from the bottom). What with the aerating of the soil it's more like 1 1/2 spade depths, but that's fine. I'm still going to fill the soil to the top and then work in the next lot of chicken and farmyard manure.


One thing I have decided is that I am going to raise the level at the back to the same height as the rest of the bed (orange lines below).


After looking around I'm going to use the grass edging that looks like lots of little half posts. They do them in a rool-out line from the garden centre.


So that's next on the agenda so that I can level the soil across the patch before doing the final manure bit.

The other thing that I needed to work out was what to do with all of the soil until I need it for other things.


My plan is to move my mulch sacks to the patio, and put the bag of soil next to the shed as a temporary measure. I've learned my lesson from before about not putting it on the grass, which is why the blue soil containers are currently all balanced on the railway sleepers. My next task was to find a suitable bag.


Fortunately there's a bag that they do at Homebase called a HippoBag. The idea is that you use it like a skip - you buy the bag, fill it, and then call HippoBag to come and take it away. The taking away costs more, but I, like many others, just bought the bag to use as a bag without needing to use the skip part :)

I'm hoping it'll fit nicely in the space - which I intend to clear of debris before using. So next up is using the wonderful bit of man's gardening kit I bought a while back... The GardenVac 2700W Turbo!


One of the problems with the garden is that a lot of edging has been filled with slate chips. As you can see from the patio it's really easy for leaves and other organic matter to collect in these areas - its the same for the side of the shed, but more so. They don't sweep out as you move the slates, so we're hoping the uber-leafblower should do the job.

So, my to do list is now...

• Attach log roll
• Fill soil to new level
• Turn in manure(s) & cover with sheet
• Move mulch bags out
• De-leaf next to shed
• Put down soil bag and fill with all extra soil

But all going well so far.