Part of the garden plans involve changing two beds.
The first has, this year, been supplying us with veg as well as full of sunflowers. In an effort to lower the maintenance we decided a while ago to make this into a wild flower section, probably with some fruit trees but the area needs contouring first to ensure there are no hollows that will fill with water when that part of the garden floods (as it does).
To achieve this as well as part of the lawn autumn management, I order six tonnes of topsoil. Three of those tonnes were due to go on this bed and the triangle bed that will be a mass of colour for the wedding – again some contouring was needed.
This weekend, therefore, and in advance of the lawn works I moved three of those tonnes into heaps on the beds. We don’t want to rip out the final tomatoes or the still flowering sunflowers, but having the material in the right place will save time.
That was Saturday.
I was on a bit of a roll, so we turned our attention to the upper bed that will mostly be a new terracing, with arched frames for climbers and narrow beds for some summer colour.
We’ve been gradually clearing it, preparatory to digging and saving the well nourished soil. In a trench the pipes for the water capture will go, as will the power for the pump and the builders are due to start in the next two weeks, now the brickies have finished making the gate posts.
Hence the ‘on a roll’. having emptied three tonne sacks and having a couple of spares I thought I’d start the soil capture.
Five sacks later and we’ve a nice trench, or at least the start. It’s like an archaeological dig, really because as I dug down I hit a level of brick and paving about nine inches under the soil. We can’t be sure but we think there was once a large Victoria house here that was cleared when our house and that next door were built in the mid 1930s. This level of hardstanding is probably a residue of that building which the builders will need to break up. Hopefully it’s not a mass grave…
That still leaves two thirds of the earth to remove. Currently we’re debating where to put it. Some of it will be used around the garden but there will be surplus and I’m loath to lose it having fed it and cherished it for the last thirty years. I suppose it keeps me fit…
And then there’s dog… of course.
and a bonus Dog from a while ago…
TanGental 
What about shoving the excess over by your enormous composting bins?
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Your garden is amazing!
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it’s a permanent work in progress for which I’m very grateful…
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yes, that’s a possibility though this time of year they usually fill with the cut backs of the herbaceous borders to make compost for the spring. There is a space behind the magnolias that I might sequester, though it will mean a little bit of Heath-Robinson construction first…
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You and your garden projects!
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I will find Atlantis, i know I will
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💜
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Dog ❤
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I know. I wonder why I bother with the rest of the post…
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Got to love the dog , Ruby does. I do have a few suggestions for the extra earth but I am too polite. As for the mass graves you’ve obviously stumbled upon a Roman village 🤭💜
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Topsoil, surplus earth, yawn, yawn – oh, there’s Dog – yay 🙂 Sorry, Geoff your gardening projects are way beyond anything I could contemplate in my titchy garden though I look forward to seeing the results. I have made a list of spring bulbs, though, so there will be colour.
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I’ve always enjoyed the digging piece of gardening. Something about channelling my inner troll. Yes, go for colour! The Textiliste is planning her off the scale colour explosion for next year. I suspect we will be keeping Suttons and other seed merchants in business…
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It’s fun changing things about in a garden; I loved creating gardens and not so much the weeding!. It will look amazing for the upcoming wedding. I see Dog was on duty to make sure you all kept on task.
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patience is his middle name…
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Dog would have told you if it were a mass grave. Gardening is such a joy. Let’s hope you haven’t found Roman ruins. Now that would likely entail archaeology in your garden for months…
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knowing my luck its a plague pit…
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Would be fun if you found Dulwich Parva!
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better than a plague pit…
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A wonderful garden becoming wonderfuller. Your buried paving reminds me of our excavations when we first arrived in Downton. In the second picture Dog looks as if he has had trouble winding his tongue back in.
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It’s him practicing his dog whistle. It’s pretty good because i can’t hear it
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🙂
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Those sunflowers are spectacular Geoff! Do you have a harvest festival where you can show them off? Our village always had a prize for the tallest sunflower and the one with the largest face… surely you’d win the tallest!
Amazing work on the new beds. Hopefully the flowers will like them as much as the sunflowers love the rear of your beautiful garden!
p.s. Always good to add an extra bonus dog photo!
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Thanks Josy all harvest festivals have been haunted by our local witch, Rona Virus casting her spells. Next year maybe
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I hope it’s not a mass grave either! Although it would make for a good story.
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