Grass Garden – Work Commences

Well, here I go. I am making this new garden up as I go along, with whatever materials come to hand, and whatever ideas come to mind.

This crisp January morning I’ve been fully engrossed, and the time has passed very quickly and blissfully. Thinking it must be 10.30, I’ve gone in for coffee and found it was 12.45.

Today’s work was very labour intensive. I’ll not be able to move tomorrow, having used muscles that have been rested for weeks.

I started by shifting nine heavy wooden pallets which won’t be needed, and moving them some distance away to stack up. The dog helped. He stood close by, shadowing me at all times like the loyal sheepdog he is. Each pallet was sniffed expectantly, despite me swearing and bawling at him. He was totally oblivious to any danger to himself of having the combined weight of the pallet and myself crushing him at any moment. It was truly extraordinary to witness the evidence of his trust and loyalty, and his undimmed touching but misplaced belief that I would never cause him any harm.

Pallets moved, I salvaged some old plastic sheets from the discarded swimming pool, and lay them in the centre of the space where I plan a seating area. I know that plastic is not ideal, as the rain will not drain away, but I will make holes in it with the garden fork. The plastic stops the weeds coming up, and the gravel getting pushed down into the soil. It is not biodegradable, but this is all I’ve got.
Equally, gravel is not an ideal choice either practically or aesthetically, but it is cheap. There is a necessity to keep the cost down, so anything scrounged from any source, or found at the back of the shed is ideal.

I needed to create an entrance down to the seating area. A nearby weeping willow got a drastic pruning to make some space, and bring some light in. New steps would have to be improvised. I thought it preferable that these entrance steps were partially hidden. This would probably be a bonus, depending on my skills with concrete.

Excavating the steps was a really exhausting job. The pool had been surrounded with big pebbles which had become embedded in the clay soil, buried in grass and hidden by tree roots. In amongst all this were bits of old paving slabs, fruit cage netting from an earlier time, roof tiles, polystyrene and old bricks. An old kitchen knife, a pair of scissors and several tent pegs were also unearthed.

One step in place, but not finished. I’d used some of the rubble and pebbles as hardcore, old decking wood for shuttering and for the step risers, and two bags of cement from the back of the shed for the treads themselves. There would be three wide, shallow steps curving down to the seating area. I had absolutely no experience, instructions or expertise, but I was determined to do it anyway.

The dog continued with his assistance by falling asleep on the foundations of the top step while I excavated the second. Again, oblivious to the danger of spade, rake, fork, pick and flying pebbles.

He and I watched a female blackbird enjoying a feast of earthworms next to us. She became very bold and was so close I could have reached out and touched her. Instead I sat with held breath and treasured the moment.

Late lunch.
Tidy up in garden.
Long soak in bath.

The dog came up to stare at me. Not conducive to total relaxation. He was fascinated by the bubbles, and the perfume made him sneeze prolifically. Gross.
After attempting to eat the bubbles, which thankfully he found too scary, he settled his attention on half a bar of Imperial Leather soap which had been left by an elderly relative. I picked it up to show him that it wasn’t a biscuit, but he wasn’t convinced, and snatched it out of my hand and ate the whole bar on the landing, with great relish.
My relaxing soak was accompanied by the dog plopping and yakking just outside the door. Satisfied by his new brand of biscuit treat, he went and settled on our bed, a contented chap.
It would explain why there’s never any soap.