A three wheel barrow problem

Three wheelbarrows hard at work on this farm and that’s still not enough to go around.

I have some lovely topsoil just waiting to be relocated.  But I have to wait until the  workmen leave at 4pm each day so I can get my turn.

But it’s well worth it as the soil that lies between the fallen wall and the bank is just gorgeous. Soft and fluffy and rich and perfect for the shade garden.

I positively twinkled up the path with four loads before it got dark.

Well, twinkle is an exaggeration, but I was pleased. And that was after a day of hauling buckets of stuff out of the pool and onto the shade garden as well.

The huge gaps are filled, but there’s another day at least to go before I can say that it’s back to the way it was.

Artur inspected most of the work and slowed me down for a few good lap sitting sessions which was great. I was frankly relieved to be sitting down. Especially as it was so unseasonably warm. We were all down to t shirts by lunchtime.

I had really wanted another little wall below the shade garden where it butts against the path. Alice’s path.  But I don’t have the raw materials anymore.

Etienne and Bebere need the rest of the huge rock pile to fill in the gaps in the new cellar floor.

And I don’t fancy scrabbling about just now for a new supply.  Just getting the soil back in place is work enough.

So I used some logs instead. It’s a bit temporary, but it marks out where I need to work.  Lots more soil to add here.

I scraped buckets and buckets of soil off the path that had been washed onto it by the rain.

So that was a nice close source of the brown stuff.  I just had to reach up and lob it onto the bank. (I’ve just noticed that I have written the word soil a zillion times already. It’s on the brain.) But the rest feels so far away.  Two terraces down.

Still, everyone else was working away, so I kept on.

And I have removed all the shrubs from the top hedge that is right beside the road.  That way I can get ready to make up a bank of soil as a barrier against the next downpour.

I was thinking that I could try the usual technique of relocating festuca glauca grasses.  They put down amazingly tenacious roots very quickly.

So first thing tomorrow, I’ll be up with my mighty fork on the top terrace and shifting plants. Again.