The
bottom of the garden slopes, our plan was to terrace the
bottom by using a raised path as the retaining wall.
Using the trench of the path to lose a lot of concrete
rubble we had generated elsewhere in the garden. Like all
good plans it did not survive contact with the soil! We realized that we had to come up far higher than we had
budgeted for.
Click on pictures for a
bigger picture
By the end of
the first day (in Mid October) the rise has taken shape.
and the levelling of the lawn is going well It was at
this time we knew that there would be insufficient soil
to fill the herbaceous bed to the left up to the new
level now three feet higher.
Plan "B"
We decided to remove the centre third of the bed and call
it a pond
Taken late on
a very long day, the pond was made level using the old
"clear tube and water trick". Nothing looks
worse than ponds that are not level around the edge.
At
this time we noticed the hedge was not level either but
followed the contour of the ground, so that will take a
wee bit longer to sort.
After 6 weeks
and 600 concrete blocks we had reached ground level. Pond
has been lined with old carpets to protect the liner.
Putting in
the liner marked a turning point, The bed either side is
up to level and all the plants and bulbs shifted.
Still
another 9" to come up with the pond edging to hide
the liner.
At long last its starting to look like a pond,
unfortunately it will be the spring before it can be
planted up and we can start to soften it in as it all
looks rather stark although once the water reaches its
correct level 6" further up, that may help as the
edge will be hidden
