A slice of the mountain

I never thought of it from this angle, but I seem to have sliced a piece of the mountain out of the ground. As though I took a cheese grater to the soil and removed it.

But it took a lot longer than that.

And the ground was so frozen that I had to find some warm up tasks first.

The day began with a nippy minus 5C on the thermometer.   So I walked down to the lower terraces (stopping en route to admire the view of my beautifully strimmed terraces) to scout for logs.

I need logs to finish my design for the potager. And I spotted some yesterday that could do.

Accompanied by my trusty side kick (who ignored me all day, but stayed 10 metres away from all my activities, just to keep me company or annoy me, take your pick) I stalked my quarry.

These logs aren’t the longest I could have wished for, but they are the right width and are straight as only a pollarded chestnut can be.

So I hauled them up to the road. That was only about a 100 metre drag. But it was all uphill and marvellously warming.

But I must confess to filling the car so I didn’t have to carry them all the way up to the house.

That done I stacked them at the potager and went off with a fork for something fun.

Weeding. Or even better, creating.

This is to be a new bed. It’s underneath a walnut tree which could prove problematic.   But it faces due south and should get enough sun for some plants to thrive.

I am leaning towards prostrate rosemary.   That will provide a link from all the thin beds below it that are chock full of the wonderful plant.

And the main thing is it will draw your eye up from the barn garden on to another view.   That’s the plan.  

To start I had to fork over all the soil and remove the grass.   But I kept a lot of the clods to build up a mini wall at the base of the hill. This is to hold all the soil in place.

It’s close to the road, but shouldn’t cause any problems with drainage and traffic. I’ve left a ledge of grass for animals to walk on.   And left space for the two lovely carpinus betulus (hornbeam) shrubs nearby.

And being tidy and neat, I have immediately covered the exposed soil with a thick mulch.

Something I made earlier.   That way I will have one more part of the garden that doesn’t need to battle with weeds.

I have only done half of the length (and it’s is about 10 feet long so far) and will try and finish the rest tomorrow.

I don’t have enough mulch yet.   And I need to give some thought to the rocks nearby. Do I expose them entirely and remove huge amounts of soil?  There is an oak tree in there too. Fun and games.

And of course the one thing I will have to plan for is frozen soil. I don’t think it will be a first up project of the morning.