garden office - day 2

Digging day today.
I took the first stint and got to the point filling the raised bed that I needed to put the top section on. Having seen how well the cast-off turf path was doing (we used the leftover tortoise turf to fill the gap between the two raised beds in the summer), I dug it up carefully enough to patch the front of the tortoise run and then re-lay the rest around the acer pot. If it survives, it will look great. If it doesn't, at least it's out of the way.

I had a poke at the back beam of the old teepee and found it was indeed on the wrong line, so having measured up to be sure, we agreed it would have to go. Dave was able to pitch in today, so when I went in for a break I left him attacking ivy and roots in preparation for more digging. When he came in, it turned out that he'd removed the back "beam", which was, in fact, a tree root growing along the old damp proof course that the now-rotted-away beam had been sitting on. He'd also done a decent amount of shovelling, so good on him. After lunch it was starting to drizzle, but my objective for the day was to at least get the base area cleared. The trusty crate I'd been using yesterday to transport manageable amounts of soil to the raised bed cracked during the morning, so I'd moved on to a more manageable sized bucket, which meant a smaller load (and target...), but it was easier to carry and empty.
The back left, highest corner was basically matted ivy roots which was almost impossible to dig, but would tear up in great mats. I found an ivy root mother node half way down the left edge so had to destroy it with the pick axe - quite enjoyable, but not as satisfying as the axe work yesterday. Anyway, just as the drizzle started thinking about being rain, I decided that the area was cleared, but was most definitely not level. That's tomorrow's job, then everything is due to be delivered on Thursday.

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