Muddy_boots' Blog

Taking a step back

Posted on 1 Apr, 2008 15 comments

Why am I taking a step backwards? Well, several steps, really. I moved into my flat 3½ years ago and at that time, the 9m x 6m ‘garden’ was overgrown with couch grass and nettles. That was going to have to be the first task – get rid of them. I called in
the help of my brother-in-law, who is an orchard manager and he sprayed the lot with some super duper weedkiller. Within an hour, they were down! The photo below shows it after the great clear-up was completed.


After the weed clearance, the next thing was to lay more paving slabs. They continued along the front of the building and a patio area. The preparation for this threw up a problem I have had ever
since. There is a thin layer of topsoil, on top of a layer roadstone, about 6” thick and below that, a layer of coke cinders. That has meant that ever since, I have done as little digging as possible. Clearing what I have now, was one hell of a job and a 10’ x 2’ took the best part of 2 weeks! This is the main reason why I have elected to go for a mainly container garden.

Next was a weed suppressing membrane and gravel. I was lucky with most of that, as my friend Karen, and husband Paul, had a problem with rising damp and had decided to dig out a load of the gravel from the front of their house. I had the ideal place for it and along with a large bag of gravel from Buildbase, the garden area was sorted.

Next step was to start the garden being a garden. Pots, tubs and troughs were imported from various sources and purchasing plants and things began and I looked forward to 2005 when I’d be planting out for the first time.





This is actually the third blog I have started. The first one was hacked into, the second one is still going, but gets very few visitors. This site seems ideal to me, with like minded folk, so hopefully, I may be able to contribute some of the knowledge I have gained over the last few years. My own gardening experience is very limited. I am divorced and have been on my own for 18 years. My background has been through 23 years at sea, 10 years as a trucker, and a few years as an IT Tutor, amongst other things.

I have decided, and enjoyed, growing salads and veg in containers since being in this flat, but more about that another time time

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Tags: Garden grow_your_own