Shedding Tears (3)

4 more bags of sand mixed and tipped. Yesterdays dry mix has started to go off, but is still a bit crumbly, so I can break this up with the rake, at least enough so there should be some adhesion between the two layers. Make sure that this time there's plenty of dry mix, and here we go again.

Why is it that one slab can go in almost perfectly first time, but the next slab takes twenty minutes, breaks your nails, crushes your fingers and you still end up unhappy with how it lays ?

Never mind, by 20:00 darkness is looming but the slabs are in ! Ramped up some drymix around the sides for water falloff - not sure if this is what you do but it's what I did anyway.

Car all packed up 15 minutes later and even though its dark, a good days work and just 10 minutes from beer.

ps - Rhubarb went in a few days ago, just can't remember when

Shedding Tears (2)

8 bags of sand and some cement later I've filled in my rectangle with dry mix @ 8:1 (or so).
- "What are you planting there ?" from Paul @ next plot.
Not quite enough dry mix, but I'm sure it will be ok. Two hours later and a few slabs down and 'levelled' - OH kindly advised that it wasn't straight. Minor grumbles later (it is hard work!) and I guess I have to agree with her, so up come half the slabs, only breaking one or two. Tomorrow will need to get some more materials and have another go.

OH has now manged to get rows 2 and 3 of the spuds in, and the first apple tree. Now we're in a groove !

Shedding Tears (1)

Bit the bullet and started on the shed base. Never having laid one before some internet research showed just how easy it was. Half a dozen peggings out later, we had finally decided exactly where the shed was to be located, and 5 minutes with a spirit level showed just how slopey the ground was ! An hour or so with the spade to dig in the top end, then (stupid decision) a good soaking so that I could stamp the ground compact where I'd dug. Forgetting just how much wet mud can stick to trainers ! But - there's a brown patch amongst the green that shows progress.