June 28th

The 28th was a day of heavy showers. I was out spreading gravel again, but there were frequent pauses waiting for rain to pass. The plant in the first picture is now shedding flowers into the gravel. Having blown them all away with a leaf blower, I covered the area with a plastic sheet. I need to cut this plant back at some point soon, but for now, the plastic will protect the area. By the end of the day, I'd emptied another four bags of gravel, around another 1200Kg and have most of the area filled to its final level. There's one bag of gravel left by the gate and that should finish off the low spots around the track bed.
 

 
June 30th

The Fuchsia was shedding flowers at the slightest breeze, so cutting it back was a priority to save the ballast from being covered, particularly with strong winds forecast. I started chopping away, cutting it back and down in height and in the end, had filled a half ton dumpy bag full of cuttings. After sweeping up the bits on the plastic sheet, it was moved to around the conifer, as that also needed trimming.

While the hedge trimmers were out, I also cut back the purple bush on the lawn, which while it was only trimmed a couple of months ago, had also sprouted eighteen inch long stems. Just as I finished that, the rain started and it just got heavier. That ended work for the day. The trimming left the railway area much more tidy.

July 1st/2nd

There was more rain on the 1st, but I managed to paint the inside edge of the lawn edging sleepers with bitumen before the rain came. Sunday the 2nd was better, though still a few showers. I started barrowing topsoil from the bulk bag by the workshop to the new lawn, then raking it out level. The first layer was slowly walked over to pack it down before a second layer was added to bring it up to the final height. This gave me an indication of how much topsoil I'd need for the rest of the lawn. The rest of the day was spent trimming the laurel. On the morning of the 3rd, I ordered eight tons of topsoil to finish the lawn and the embankment. That should arrive on Wednesday morning.
 

 
July 5th

At around 8:15am on Wednesday morning, a big truck turned up loaded with 8 tons of topsoil. Rather than a tipper truck, it had a crane and grab to unload it. I tried to rig a bulk bag to hold it open so the soil could be dumped into the bags, but the soil weight kept flattening the bag. So I gave up on that idea and just got the soil dumped on the drive.

I had a number of bulk bags from previous deliveries, though some were being used to cover the new lawn area to stop weed growth. I had an old plastic tarp with some holes that I spread out on the lawn area so that I could use the bags for moving the topsoil.

By the end of the afternoon, I'd partially filled fifteen bulk bags with around 3~400Kg in each to be within the lifting ability of my Dodge, without overloading the rear springs. It was really tiring, so assuming I can move tomorrow, I'll get the Dodge out again and start transporting it to the back garden.

In other news, the two veggie planters are filling out well with carrots, cauliflowers, cabbage, potatoes and strawberries. I had a temporary net over the strawberries to keep the birds off, but finished a more practical netting frame today, with opening lids for easy access. I need another larger one for the other planter, but that's probably a rainy day project.
 

 
July 6th

The day was spent driving the Dodge up and down the drive and garden carrying bags. By the end of the day, I'd dropped off nine bags on the lawn and two by the workshop, then ran out of space for any more. Those moved would need emptying before I could bring more around.

July 7th

On the 7th, I started spreading soil. The nine bags on the lawn, have now all been emptied and raked out to flatten the surface. Around 3.5 tons at a guess. It's not level, as the height of the garden drops from left to right towards the railway, but it's moderately flat now. 

It's not quite up to the final lawn height and I haven't filled the ramp from the lower lawn yet. I need to bag and transport more soil from the front garden before I can go further - Sunday's job.

The soil quality isn't as good as the first stuff we got for the veggie planters, but at £12 per ton, much more affordable than the original £100 per 850Kg bag - especially with 8 tons delivered! There's quite a few big stones and broken glass to pick out, but it's fine for under a lawn. I'll probably do more sieving for the railway embankment area, since we'll be planting in it.
 

 
July 9th

I got a proper day's hard work out of Lynne on the 9th, not just sitting behind a desk earning money! We continued bagging our front garden Mount Snowdon, filling another twelve bulk bags with approximately four tons of topsoil. Based on the amount of bag filling we've done so far, we had much more than eight tons of soil delivered!
 

July 10th

We hired a vibrating compactor, to firm up the lawn area. The clay soil was wet and sticky from the overnight rain, but a sprinkling of sand helped it slide.

 
Once that was done, another six bulk bags of soil were emptied onto the lawn, almost another two tons. This time, rather than going straight from the bag to the lawn, it was all sieved into a wheelbarrow to get the stones, glass, nails, clay balls and pottery out of it. That left some quite nice soil, which was tipped onto the lawn and raked out flat, ready for seeding. About the last four barrow loads was done in the rain, but by that time, I wasn't going to stop for anything. Feeling very tired, but really pleased with the way it's looking now. Seeding tomorrow hopefully and then I can't wait to see it turn green over the next couple of weeks.